Scanning method and architecture for display

ABSTRACT

A method of scanning a plurality of display elements or pixels of a display and an apparatus capable of performing the method of scanning, allow energy propagating along a primary path to be diverted sequentially by a series of energy diverting devices to a plurality of secondary paths in a scanning direction depending upon the finite turn-on and turn-off times of the energy diverting devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application SC/Ser. No. 08/874,847, filed Jun. 13, 1997, pending, which is a division of U.S. patent application SC/Ser. No. 08/614,235, filed Mar. 12, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,032, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/303,899, filed Sep. 9, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,268.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that allows energy propagating along a primary path to be diverted sequentially through a series of energy diverting devices to a plurality of secondary paths. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and an apparatus for diverting optical energy through optical switches to the display elements or pixels of a display. The method of diverting the optical energy effectively providing a method of "scanning" of the display.

This invention is applicable to any application or device that allows energy propagating along a primary path to be diverted sequentially through a series of diverting devices to a plurality of secondary paths. Such applications and uses include, but are not limited to, the provision of light shutters, optical communications, displays, scanning devices, print readers and print writers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to devices, particularly optical devices, for controlling propagation of energy, particularly optical beams, using electric field control. In particular, the invention relates to devices with poled structures, including periodically poled structures, and electrodes which permit controlled propagation of optical energy in the presence of controlled electric fields applied between electrodes. The invention relates to a fundamentally new class of flat panel optical displays.

The current technology for an EO switchable grating is shown in FIG. 1 (Prior Art). In this structure, periodically patterned electrodes serve as the elements that define the grating. The underlying material does not have a patterned poled structure, as hereinafter explained. An input beam 12 is coupled into a electro-optically active material 2 which contains an electrically controllable permanent grating 6. When the voltage source 10 to the grating electrodes is off, the input beam continues to propagate through the material to form the output beam 16. When the grating-controlling voltage source is switched on, an index modulation grating is produced in the material, and a portion of the input beam is coupled into a reflected output beam 14. The material has an electro-optically active poled region 4 with a single domain, with the same polarity throughout the poled structure. A first electrode 6 is interdigitated with a second electrode 7 on a common surface 18 of the substrate. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes, the vertical component of electric field along the path of the beam 12 alternately has opposite sign, creating alternate positive and negative index changes to form a grating. The strength of the grating is controlled by the voltage source connected between the two electrodes by two conductors 8.

A second general problem with the existing art of EO and piezoelectric devices using uniform substrates and patterned electrodes is that the pattern of the excited electric field decays rapidly with distance away from the electrodes. The pattern is essentially washed out at a distance from the electrodes equal to the pattern feature size. This problem is aggravated in the case of a grating because of the very small feature size. Prior art gratings formed by interdigitated electrodes produce a modulated effect only in a shallow surface layer. EO structures interact weakly with waveguides whose dimension is larger than the feature size. While longer grating periods may be used in higher order interaction devices, the lack of sharp definition described above again seriously limits efficiency. The minimum grating period for efficient interaction with current technology is about 10 microns. What is needed is a way to maintain the efficiency of EO devices based on small structures, despite a high aspect ratio (i.e. the ratio of the width of the optical beam to the feature size). Switchable patterned structures are needed which persist throughout the width of waveguides and even large unguided beams.

There are several related technologies in the prior art that use light sources coupled with waveguide structures for display applications.

J. Viitanem and J. Lekkala ("Fiber optic liquid crystal displays," SPIE Vol. 1976, High-Definition Video, pg. 293-302 (1993), and references therein) review the characteristics of flat panel displays that use the waveguide principle coupled with liquid crystal switching. A number of designs are discussed. All have the following common design principles. A modulated light source is mechanically scanned across a series of electro-optically active waveguides that form the row elements of the display. A series of parallel electrodes form the column locations for the display. Light is coupled out of the waveguides and scattered toward the viewer at a column spatial location using the electro-optic effect. Thus a two-dimensional array of pixels is formed.

In this prior art, light is confined in a waveguide which is composed of a core optical material that has an index of refraction that is larger than the surrounding cladding material. The light, normally confined primarily to the core, is forced to "leak" out of the core of the waveguide at a desired spatial location. The waveguiding effect is destroyed by electro-optically reducing the index difference between the core and the cladding along a certain distance. The electro-optically active material may, in principle, either reside in the core (to reduce the index) or in the cladding (to increase the index). In Viitanem et al., the cladding is active. The technique of destroying the waveguiding effect is called a "waveguide tap" in some of the prior art literature.

The "leaked" light propagates by free space diffraction to a scattering center where it is directed toward the viewer to form a pixel of the display. The light that "leaks" out of the destroyed waveguide is no longer spatially confined but expands in area according to standard diffraction theory as it propagates away from the destroyed waveguide segment. This two-dimensional expansion of the light causes three problems.

First, since the diffraction angle of the light previously confined to the waveguide is relatively small, a long interaction lengths results. (A significant fraction of the optical energy must leave the core region before it can be scattered toward the viewer.) This typically will limit the spacing of the scattering centers to be larger than 1 mm. This effect causes a low resolution display with a low pixel packing density.

Second, the two dimensional expansion of the beam makes it virtually impossible to collect a large fraction of the light on a scattering center and direct it toward the viewer. This causes the display to have a low electrical power efficiency.

Third, the two-dimensional expansion of the beam causes the scattering centers to be large, and hence the pixel size is large. This also degrades the display resolution.

A consequence of the large pixel spacing is that long waveguide lengths must be used to cover enough pixels for a display. The display must then operate in a region where the effects of waveguide loss are large, again reducing efficiency. Thus this prior art design suffers from low pixel packing density, a large pixel size, and a low electrical power efficiency.

What is needed to resolve these problems is the development of a short, efficient, low-loss electro-optic waveguide switch that routes the entire light beam out of the row waveguide and into a narrow solid-angle so that the switched light can be efficiently directed either towards a pixel scattering center or into another waveguide that leads to a scattering center. This will concentrate the light on the scattering center, maximizing both the efficiency of the display and the pixel packing density.

Another embodiment using the "waveguide tap" method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,181, April, 1992, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,483, April, 1991, Rockwell, III, "Optical Waveguide Display System". Rockwell III discloses a display that uses waveguides to guide light in simultaneous rows. Light is coupled out of a waveguide into the cladding using the electro-optic effect in the cladding. Although the structure is different from that of Viitanem et al. above, this display suffers the same problems of low pixel density and inefficiency discussed above.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,847, September, 1991, Tarui et. al. , "Flat Display Panel", discloses another version of the "waveguide tap" method. A planar waveguide structure is used with a layered core material consisting of interspersed layers of a-SiN and a-Si. Light from a laser diode source is confined within the planar waveguide until a voltage is placed across the core of the waveguide. The voltage causes the index of the core to be reduced thus allowing light to escape the waveguide structure. This display suffers from all of the difficulties discussed above. This design has an additional efficiency penalty since all pixels are simultaneously illuminated, but only one pixel at a time is activated. Thus a very small fraction of the light is coupled out toward the viewer at any one time.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,120, January, 1992, Nelson, "Flat Panel Display Utilizing Leaky Lightguides" discloses a leaky lightguide used as a row-backlight for a display. Light from a source such as a laser diode is coupled into the lightguide to provide uniform illumination of a row in a display. This backlight is combined with an array of ferroelectric liquid crystal shutters to make the display pixels. In this case the waveguides are only used to replace the fluorescent light normally used in LCD displays, and there are no active "waveguide taps" or switches.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,592, February, 1987, Nishimura et al., "Optical Display Utilizing Thermally Formed Bubble in a Liquid Core Waveguide", discloses a display that uses multiple liquid filled fibers or waveguides as rows. These waveguides are placed over a series of heater electrodes. Bubbles are formed in the waveguide core when the heater voltage is turned on, thus scattering light out toward the viewer. The display image is formed when modulated laser light is mechanically scanned sequentially into each row waveguide. Although this approach solves some of the problems inherent in the "waveguide tap" approach by putting small scattering centers in core region, the time scale of thermal processes will preclude this display from having a fast enough frame rate to display full motion video. There are no waveguide switches in this design.

All of the prior art uses parallel input waveguides excited directly by a light source because the switching mechanisms known to the art do not permit the efficient switching light out of a supply waveguide into the desired row waveguide. This accounts for the unwieldy mechanical beam scanning apparatus of Viitanem et al. and Nishimura et al., the simultaneous waveguide bundle illumination of Rockwell III, the planar waveguide excitation of Tarui et al., and the simultaneous diode array illumination of Nelson and Nishimura et al. Yet the simplest architecture for a display, where light is coupled into a single waveguide and routed to the pixels, requires at least two consecutive switches to illuminate a full two dimensional array of pixels: one to select the row waveguide and the other to select the pixel. The prior art can (with difficulty) make the pixel switches. However, the row switch, which must connect waveguide to waveguide, is not possible with the waveguide taps described above. Waveguide to waveguide coupling would just be too inefficient because of the divergence of the light by two dimensional diffraction following the destruction of the waveguide in the switched region. What is needed is a switch which concentrates the switched light efficiently into another waveguide.

The integrated optical channel waveguide communication bus of Becker and Chang, can not be used as a display since it does not include "waveguide taps" or any other method to allow the light propagating in the waveguides to be directed toward a viewer in a pixel format. Furthermore, the switches are fabricated using an interdigitated electrodes structure previously described above in reference to FIG. 1, and they do not contain any pattern poled structures. The switch design has a high switch insertion loss, and hence can not be used in any applications which require a large number of switches on the same waveguide such as a display or a multi-switch data bus for communication applications.

The problems with the prior art are summarized as follows: 1) compact high resolution displays can not be fabricated due to the large pixel spacing, 2) the inefficient "waveguide taps" limit the brightness of the display, 3) the power efficiency is low because of the optical losses, and 4) power cannot be efficiently switched into another waveguide. Since displays are to be used to explain this invention, conventional methods of scanning that are generally applied to such devices are discussed briefly here in order to aid understanding of the invention. Conventional types of displays include cathode ray tubes (CRTs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), active-matrix LCDs, (AMLCDs), electroluminiscent (EL) and plasma displays. In most of these devices, electrical signals are applied to the matrix of electrodes to control the medium in question. In a CRT, an electron beam is conventionally scanned both horizontally and vertically onto a screen to form a number of display elements. These display elements collectively form an image. Conventional optical scanning systems utilize multifaceted mirrors for deflecting the light beam over a scanning area, which is typically scanned from left to right, on a row-by-row basis.

A conventional twisted-nematic field LCD is made of a cell that contains a liquid crystal material sandwiched between two glass plates. Transparent conductor electrodes are configured on the inner surfaces of the cell to form the dot matrix pattern. A transparent polarizing film is attached to the top glass plate with an adhesive. A second polarizer is bonded to the bottom plate and it is oriented at 90° to the polarization plane of the first mentioned polarizer. The molecular rotation of the liquid crystal material either blocks or allows transmission of light through the liquid crystal material, thereby altering its optical properties. In an OFF state with no voltage applied, polarized light entering the front of the cell follows the direction of the twist and undergoes a 90° rotation as it exits the cell. This rotation allows the polarized light to pass through the rear polarizer unchanged. When a voltage is applied to the cell, the cell is effectively in an ON state. The liquid crystal molecules become oriented parallel to the electric field because the energy of the electric field destroys the twisted structure. The polarized light entering the cell is therefore not rotated and is in fact absorbed by the rear polarizer. Thus the ON state is black, and the OFF state is clear. An LCD display consists of rows and columns of electrodes that are connected to voltage supplies through a driver circuitry. In operation, the display is scanned or multiplexed row by row from top to bottom. The driver circuitry sequentially selects the row lines by giving them a non-zero voltage, while the column lines simultaneously send a non-zero voltage to all the display elements in the selected row. When a proper voltage difference is generated across a row and a column, the liquid crystal material at the intersection of these electrodes, which is known as the selected display element, is activated in the manner described above. The switching time for these types of structures is in the tens to hundreds of milliseconds range.

Conventional active-matrix LCDs provide a switching element at each display element or subdisplay element. For reflective displays, the switching of each display element has been done by using a silicon wafer as the substrate and providing a FET to drive the display element. During the times that a display element is not addressed, the display element has a high impedance and is therefore isolated from the drive circuitry. The display element acts effectively as a capacitor, storing an electrical charge and maintaining a voltage throughout the period during which it is not addressed.

Conventional plasma displays are devices in which the switching element is a positive charged column of a glow discharge in a gas. Each row of the display has a groove in the bottom glass sheet to contain the ionized gas. Plasma addressing relies on the principle that when the gas in a plasma discharge tube is ionized, it acts as a good conductor; and when it is deionized, it is an insulator. When the cathode is activated, the plasma gas ionizes, thereby facilitating an electrical connection between the bottom electrode and ground. The display elements can be written by modulating the data line voltages. When a display element is not being addressed, the respective bottom electrode is electrically isolated such that the display element is not activated. In operation, scan pulses are applied to the column electrodes according to the image stored in memory. The scan pulses are applied to the row electrodes by scanning the rows one at a time sequentially. Once ionization occurs, a current will continue to pass through the plasma even when the voltage is decreased below the threshold voltage. If the voltage is further decreased, light emission will cease.

In conventional electroluminiscent displays, light is produced by applying an electric field to a phosphor. The high electric field inside the material excites carriers, which eventually decay with the emission of light. In thin film EL displays, most of the energy that produces light is delivered during the rise and fall of the driving. A typical mode of operating such a display is to drive columns with positive-going pulses, scan the whole display, and then drive the entire panel with a negative-going pulse, to remove the charge stored in the display elements. Since one display element is addressed at a time, a panel of practical size, for example, 10,000 display elements refreshed at a rate of 50 frames per second, will need to be addressed with a time of at most 0.5 microseconds per display element. Noninstantaneous photoresistor response times as well as RC time constraints arising from the finite capacitance of the electroluminiscent panel make such a fast addressing time difficult to achieve.

It is apparent that the technologies described above are similar in that they depend upon a matrix or array of electrodes individually addressed. Electrical signals applied to the matrix of electrodes control a medium such as a liquid crystal display or plasma display. The image that is seen on the display screen is controlled by applying signals to the electrodes associated each individual display element on the display. U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,082 "Thermo-optic light modulation array" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,904 "TIR Electro-optic modulator with individual addressed electrodes" illustrate other such display technologies similar to those described above.

Diverting devices, such as switches, are devices which divert energy which is propagating along a primary path into a secondary path. An ideal switch is one that can be turned on and off instantaneously, without taking any time to reach its full-on state, (with no "rise time"), and without taking any time to reach its full-off state, (with no "decay" or "fall time"). In reality, conventional diverting devices have both a rise time and a fall time, dependent not only upon the nature of the device itself, but also upon the nature of the devices driving it and the criteria governing the full-on and full-off states. The terms full-on state and full-off state will be explained in more detail later.

There are, for example, conventional optical switches incorporating materials with refractive indices which can be altered by the application of an electric or magnetic field, and hence the switching can be achieved by applying a predetermined voltage to the switch. As indicated above, there is a time associated with both the driving unit attaining the required voltage level, a time associated with applying that level to the switch, and a time associated with the material properties and design of the switch itself responding to the applied voltage to cause the diverting of the optical energy to occur. For the same electro-optic switch, removal of the applied voltage does not immediately turn the switch off. There is a time associated with the voltage falling to a level that ultimately turns the switch off, and there is the time once again for the switch to respond to such an instruction by the driving unit to remove the applied voltage.

There are also conventional thermo-optic devices which originate from the temperature dependency of the refractive index. Thermo-optic switching on the order of milliseconds to microseconds becomes possible when light is confined in thin-film waveguides. Such devices fabricated in plastic or polymer materials typically exhibit rise and fall times of less than 0.5 ms. The response of such a device is shown in FIG. 82. The operating waveform or control signal is shown here as a typical bidirectional rectangular pulse, but it will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that other waveforms may be desirable or required to initiate such an operation. As the temperature increases to temperature T1, the refractive index of the material begins to change, when the difference in refractive index is sufficient, the material begins to divert light. As the temperature decreases again, the refractive index of the material returns to its original index, and the light, which is no longer diverted, it will continue along its primary path.

FIG. 82 also illustrates that the switch may not respond instantaneously to the controlling or driving signal, although instantaneous response may be attainable from certain devices. In instances in which a plurality of discrete diverting devices are disposed along an energy propagating in series and accessible on a sequential basis, the concern with rise times and fall times is important, especially when a fast switching operation along the sequence is required. Minimizing the switching time is most important when large-scale arrays of switches are used to route the optical energy must be rapidly redirected between output paths, and or a fast switching operation along the sequence is required signal is modulated at a high rate.

Scanning between a large number of output waveguides inherently requires a rapid redirection of the outputs.

An example of a series of such diversion devices, shown in FIG. 83A, are fed by a common energy source 8300 such that energy propagates from an upstream direction to a downstream direction in the direction of the arrow as illustrated in FIG. 83A. It is apparent that if a control signal for a first diverting device 8302 is asserted to switch the first device 8302 on, it will take a finite amount of time T831 in FIG. 83B for the device itself to actually reach its full-on state, and a finite amount of time T832 for the device to actually reach its full-off state once a control signal is asserted to switch the device off. If a second diverting device 8304 is switched on at time T83 during the time that the first switch is in its full-on state as shown, or in transit from its on-state to its off-state, the second diverting device may have little or no effect. A portion or all of the energy will continue to be diverted by the first switch 8302, before reaching the second switch 8304.

In order to solve this problem, attempts have been made to design switching devices which have extremely short rise and fall times, thus enabling series switching to occur from a common energy source by simply sequentially switching the diversion devices on and off in turn to scan diverting devices in the series. An alternative is the provision of a switching method and apparatus that are able to attain fast scanning of the diverting devices that are disposed along an energy propagating path even if the rise and fall times of the diverting devices are relatively long.

FIG. 85 shows a conventional display 8502 in which the display elements are arranged into a matrix array of rows R1 . . . R6 and columns C1 . . . C6 that may be addressed by using a conventional addressing method. Each display element 8504 occupies a unique location in the matrix which allows individual addressing by a corresponding combination of addressing lines for the rows and columns. Although individual addressing allows each display element to be switched on and off each display element independent of those around it, if the diverting elements are situated along the same optical path from a common source 8506, the switching speed will still be determined by the rise and fall times of each individual switch unless the display elements are each supplied with an individual energy source. Individual addressing requires a substantial number of driving circuits to facilitate such operation. Therefore, there is a need for a method of scanning the display elements with conventional switches without a large number of driving circuits required by individual addressing.

Conventional scanning may be described as the selective addressing of specific display elements, of the RxC matrix or array of display elements performed using column and row addressing circuits. Scanning of the matrix may be performed in many ways, for example, by successively addressing row address lines while simultaneously applying data signals to all of the column addressing lines, or by successively addressing column address lines while simultaneously applying data signals to all of the row addressing lines. This type of scanning does not address the issue of the particular architecture in which each row or column of display elements, for example, is supplied by only one energy source, and sequential switching of the associated column or row is required to divert energy to the individual display elements. Therefore, there is a need for scanning the display elements using conventional switches with finite rise and fall times effectively, with each row or each column of the switches situated along the same optical path from a common energy source.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention satisfies this need. In accordance with the present invention, roughly described, there is provided a method for scanning a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed on an optical path, the optical path capable of carrying optical energy from an upstream position to a downstream position, each of the diverting devices capable of turning on from an off state and reaching an on state at a finite turn-on time thereafter, and each of the diverting devices capable of turning off from an on state, and reaching an off state at a finite turn-off time thereafter, the method comprising the step of:

scanning the diverting devices in an upstream sequence if the finite turn-off time of each of the diverting devices reaching the off state from the on state is greater than the finite turn-on time of each of the diverting devices reaching the on state from the off state, and in a downstream sequence if the finite turn-off time of each of the diverting devices reaching the off state from the on state is less than the finite turn-on time of each of the diverting devices reaching the on state from the off state.

Apparatus described herein is capable of performing the above process steps. Depending upon the relative length of the rise and fall times of each diverting device, a controller may be adapted to scan display elements by asserting the turn-on signals for the diverting devices either in an upstream sequence or in a downstream sequence. In an embodiment in which the rise time of each diverting device is shorter than the fall time, the controller is capable of scanning the diverting devices in an upstream sequence. In an alternative embodiment in which the rise time is longer than the fall time, the controller is capable of scanning the diverting devices in a downstream sequence.

In an aspect of the invention, still roughly described, a controller performs upstream scanning by asserting a turn-on signal for a first diverting device along an optical path, asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device, and asserting a turn-on signal for a second diverting device positioned upstream from the first diverting device along the same optical path, the second diverting device reaching the on state prior to the first diverting device reaching the off state.

In another aspect of the invention, still roughly described, a controller performs downstream scanning by asserting a turn-on signal for a first diverting device along an optical path, asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device, asserting a turn-on signal for a second diverting device positioned downstream from the first diverting device along the optical path, such that the second diverting device begins transitioning from its off state to its on state prior to the first diverting device reaching the off state, and asserting a turn-off signal for the second diverting device, such that the second diverting device reaches its off state after the first diverting device reaches its off state.

This invention will be better understood upon reference to the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the present invention will be more fully disclosed in the following detailed description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a modulator with interdigitated electrodes, according to the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a generalized embodiment of the switched grating for interacting with bulk optical beams, according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a waveguide retroreflector using the switched grating.

FIG. 4 is an embodiment of an electrode configuration for the retroreflecting device with three electrodes disposed on the same face of the crystal.

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of an electrode configuration for the same device, in which two electrodes are disposed on the same face of the crystal.

FIG. 6 is an embodiment of an electrode configuration for the device, in which three electrodes with tappered separation are disposed on the same face of the crystal.

FIG. 7 is a tee embodiment of a poled crossing waveguide coupler.

FIG. 8 is an x embodiment of a poled crossing waveguide coupler.

FIG. 9 is an embodiment of a poled waveguide output coupler, with output out of the plane of the waveguide.

FIG. 10 is an embodiment of a parallel waveguide poled directional coupler.

FIG. 11 is a top view schematic diagram of the an x crossing waveguide coupler with illustrations of alternative input and output mode profiles.

FIG. 12 is an embodiment of an x crossing waveguide coupler with tapered coupling region geometry excited with a tapered electrode gap.

FIG. 13 is an embodiment of an x crossing waveguide coupler with generalized coupling region geometry and electrode pattern.

FIG. 14 is a bulk optics embodiment of a tunable-frequency poled electro-optic retroreflector.

FIG. 15 is a waveguide embodiment of a tunable-frequency poled electro-optic retroreflector.

FIG. 16 is a bulk optics embodiment of a tunable-frequency electro-optic retroreflector with electro-optic cladding and independent excitation of poled grating and cladding.

FIG. 17 is a waveguide embodiment of a multiple frequency poled electro-optic retroreflector.

FIG. 18 is an illustration of a phase shifted poled grating.

FIG. 19 is an embodiment of a multiple period grating reflector.

FIG. 20 is an illustration of the frequency response curves of two devices with multiple periodicity and different free spectral range.

FIG. 21 is an embodiment of a twin grating tunable reflector.

FIG. 22 is a schematic illustration of an integrated etalon consisting of twin gratings with adjustable optical path length.

FIG. 23 is an embodiment of a dual grating switchable wye junction with phase shifter.

FIG. 24 is an embodiment of a poled waveguide mode converter.

FIG. 25 is an embodiment of a waveguide router using the waveguide mode converter.

FIG. 26 is an embodiment of a switchable parallel waveguide resonator.

FIG. 27 is an embodiment of a three-arm waveguide etalon.

FIG. 28 is an embodiment of a ring waveguide etalon.

FIG. 29A is an embodiment of a modulator/attenuator with controllable poled mid-structure.

FIG. 29B is an embodiment of an adjustable lens structure.

FIG. 30 is an embodiment of a poled total internal reflecting (TIR) waveguide switch with switched poled waveguide stub.

FIG. 31 is an embodiment of a dual TIR waveguide switch.

FIG. 32 is an embodiment of a TIR electrically switched beam director with switched unpoled waveguide stub.

FIG. 33 is an embodiment of a two position poled waveguide router without TIR.

FIG. 34 is an embodiment of an array of poled TIR switches with a 50% switch packing density.

FIG. 35 is an embodiment of an array of poled TIR switches with a 100% switch density.

FIG. 36 is an embodiment of a dual waveguide structure for high density packing architectures with permanent turning mirror and asymmetric loss crossing region.

FIG. 37 is an embodiment of a switched waveguide array with TIR switches.

FIG. 38 is an embodiment of a switched waveguide array with grating switches.

FIG. 39A is an embodiment of an m×m communications switch array with system control lines.

FIG. 39B is an embodiment of a 3×3 switch array with WDM capability.

FIG. 40 is an embodiment of a two dimensional switching array with pixel elements.

FIG. 41 is an embodiment of a one dimensional switching array with pixel elements coupled to data tracks.

FIG. 42 is an embodiment of a switchable spectrum analyzer using selectable grating reflector sections and a detector array.

FIG. 43 is an illustration of a poled acoustic multilayer interferometric structure.

FIG. 44 is an illustration of a poled acoustic transducer.

FIG. 45 is an embodiment of a tuned coherent detector of multi-frequency light waves.

FIG. 46 is an embodiment of a low loss switchable waveguide splitter using a single poled region.

FIG. 47 is an embodiment of a low loss switchable waveguide splitter using multiple poled regions.

FIG. 48 is an illustration of the key design elements for a 1×3 waveguide splitter.

FIG. 49 is a multiple layer stack of active waveguide devices shown as an adjustable phased array modulator.

FIG. 50 is an embodiment of an adjustable waveguide attenuator of the prior art.

FIG. 51 is an embodiment of a multiple poled segment adjustable waveguide attenuator.

FIG. 52 is an embodiment of a structure with widened bandwidth using an angle-broadened poled grating.

FIG. 53 is an embodiment of a structure with widened bandwidth using a curved waveguide.

FIG. 54 is an embodiment of an electrically controllable poled lens.

FIG. 55 is an embodiment of a laser feedback device using a periodically poled reflector.

FIG. 56 is an embodiment of a laser feedback device using a periodically poled waveguide reflector.

FIG. 57 is an embodiment of a laser feedback device using multiple switched feedback gratings.

FIG. 58 is an embodiment of a wavelength-tuned adjustable focusing system.

FIG. 59 illustrates a generalized embodiment of a display device according to the invention.

FIG. 60 illustrates a cross section of the generalized embodiment of FIG. 59.

FIG. 61 is an embodiment of a three color beam combiner.

FIG. 62 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane reflector with specular reflection through the substrate.

FIG. 63 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane reflector with divergent and/or diffuse reflection through the substrate.

FIG. 64 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane reflector with specular reflection away from the surface of the substrate.

FIG. 65 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane reflector with divergent and/or diffuse reflection away from the surface of the substrate.

FIG. 66 is an embodiment of an alternative pixel switch structure embodying the attenuator structure of FIG. 50 or FIG. 51.

FIG. 67 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane grating reflector.

FIG. 68 is an embodiment of an absorber/deflector light shield for the pixels of a display showing the relative placement of the shield and the pixel.

FIG. 76 is an embodiment of an absorber/deflector light shield which deflects background light out of the surface of the substrate.

FIG. 70 is an embodiment of an absorber/deflector light shield which deflects background light into the substrate.

FIG. 71 is an embodiment of an absorber/deflector light shield which substantially absorbs background light.

FIG. 72 is an embodiment of a section of the electrode pattern required to drive a regular two dimensional array of switches similar to that of FIG. 34.

FIG. 73 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane switch in a multiple layer stacked waveguide distribution architecture for reflecting light into the substrate.

FIG. 74 is an embodiment of an out-of-plane switch in a multiple layer stacked waveguide distribution architecture for reflecting light out of the plane of the substrate.

FIG. 75 is an embodiment of a 90° grating waveguide switch illustrated with three input waveguides.

FIG. 69 is an embodiment of a tiled display.

FIG. 77 is an embodiment of a light routing structure with multiple parallel supply waveguides, and multiple partial reflectors and modulators.

FIG. 78 is an embodiment of a display architecture pumped by a laser array.

FIG. 79 is an embodiment of multiple laser arrays coupled to interdigitated waveguides.

FIG. 80 is an embodiment of out-of-plane waveguide coupling.

FIG. 81 is an embodiment of a dual polarized display architecture for 3-D displays.

FIG. 82 is a response curves illustrating typical responses of various diverting devices;

FIG. 83A is a simplified diagram illustrating a series of two diverting devices disposed along an energy propagating path connected to an energy source;

FIG. 83B are typical response curves for the two diverting devices in FIG. 83A showing the typical rise and fall times of the respective diverting devices;

FIG. 84 is a typical timing diagram for a fast-rise, slow-fall diverting device;

FIG. 85 is a simplified schematic diagram of a conventional display matrix;

FIG. 86 is simplified schematic diagram-illustrating an embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 87 shows timing diagrams for the diverting devices in FIG. 86 assuming slow-fall, fast-rise diverting devices;

FIG. 88 shows timing diagrams for the diverting devices in FIG. 86 assuming slow-rise, fast-fall diverting device;

FIG. 89 shows timing diagrams for three slow-rise, fast-fall diverting devices in FIG. 86 and associated response curves;

FIGS. 90 and 91 are flow charts illustrating assertion times of the various diverting devices in different embodiments;

FIG. 92 is a flow chart showing a method of determining a scanning direction in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a generalized embodiment of a device 11 of the present invention, which is a patterned poled dielectric device. Essentially, this device is an electrically-controllable stacked dielectric optical energy redirector, or more succinctly, an electrically-switchable mirror. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is a bulk optical reflector in a ferroelectric crystal 20 of lithium niobate. The electrically-controlled switching element is a poled grating 22, which consists of alternating poled domains of two types 36 and 38.

A domain, which may be of any shape or size, is a physical region within which certain material properties are approximately constant. A poled domain is a region in a material in which the molecular groups have a directionality and these groups are substantially aligned (or are partially aligned) in, or near, a direction called the poling direction. There are many types of domains including domains of aligned atomic structures in different directions, domains of aligned molecules or atomic structures with various modified parameters such as the nonlinear activity or the electro-optic coefficient, domains of atomic structures with no preferred direction, domains defined by regions activated by different electrodes, poled regions in which the poling direction varies systematically across the region such as occurs in the case of polymers and fused silica poled with localized electrodes, domains of randomly oriented molecules, and by extension, a random domain structure: domains of sub-domains which are randomly poled within the domain. A poled structure is a set of individual domains. A patterned poled region is a region in a material in which the domains within the region have been poled according to a spatial pattern, with more than one domain type. There may be a systematic offset between the poled pattern and the imposed pattern used during the poling process, depending on the nature of this process. The boundaries of the pattern may also be somewhat irregular and not follow the imposed pattern perfectly, particularly if the poling process is not under complete control. The device is described as a patterned poled dielectric because an electric field is applied in controlling the device, so the material must be a dielectric in order to withstand the required field without damage. Typically, the poling process is also accomplished using an electric field, which the material must also withstand. In general, we mean by dielectric the capability of the material to withstand the minimum electric fields needed for the application. In operation, an optical input beam 40 is incident on and through the crystal, along an optical axis. The optical axis is normal to the phase front of the beam and is defined by the mean location of the propagating beam across its intensity profile at the phase front. The optical axis is straight in a uniform material, but may bend in several situations including curved waveguides, nonuniform media, and in reflective or diffractive structures. The input beam 40 preferably has a sufficiently small spot size 21 throughout the crystal length so that it is not apertured by the crystal, causing undesirable power loss and mode conversion. In a bulk-interaction device such as is shown in FIG. 2, the domains 36 and 38 must penetrate a sufficient distance through the substrate 20 so that they overlap at least a portion of the input beam 40. The grating 22 lies transverse of the input beam 40. This means the planes 34 of the grating 22 are transverse of the axis of the input beam 40. For two lines (or a line and a plane, or two planes) to be transverse of each other we mean that they are not parallel. Since the grating is transverse of the beam 40, the beam passes through at least a portion of the structure of the grating 22.

The optical beam 40 is derived from an optical frequency source (not shown) and has a wavelength such that the beam is not substantially absorbed in the crystal, and such that the photorefractive effect does not distort the beam significantly. The optical frequency source means may include one or more optical exciters capable of supplying sufficient brightness within the wavelength acceptance of the grating reflector 22 to produce a useful switched output beam 44. The output beam may be coupled to other elements on the same substrate, or it may be coupled to external devices, in which case the output surface through which beam 44 emerges is preferably antireflection coated. The antireflection coating may be a multilayer dielectric coating, a single quarter wave layer of a material with almost the appropriate index of refraction, or a sol-gel coating. The exciter may be any light source including a laser, a light emitting diode, an arc lamp, a discharge, or even a filament, provided that the desired spectral brightness is achieved. The desired spectral brightness may be supplied directly from one or more exciters, indirectly from one or more frequency converted (doubled, mixed, or parametrically amplified) exciters, or in combination with several of the above alternatives. Absorption effects will limit the wavelength to the range from about 400 to 4000 nm. The effect of the photorefractive phenomenon varies with the configuration, the wavelength, dopants, and the poling structure, and we assume here that it has been brought under control so that any beam distortion remains within acceptable limits.

The grating 22 is formed or defined by the boundaries 34 between alternating domains of two different types. The first type of domain 36 has a different electro-optic (E-O) coefficient than the second type of domain 38, so that a uniform electric field applied between the electrodes 24 and 26 results in different changes in the index of refraction in the two types of domains. Because the index of refraction changes the phase velocity of the wave, there is an impedance mismatch between the regions of different index or phase velocity. It is advantageous to accomplish such an index change with material in which the regions 36 have a reverse sense relative to the poling direction of the other domain type 38 and the original wafer 20, as shown by the poling sense arrows 39, 41. By reverse sense we mean the poling direction is opposite to some reference direction. (An alternative realization of the field controllable grating is in an irradiated masked polymer film which has its E-O coefficient destroyed inside or outside the regions 36.) A uniform electric field applied to the structure 22 produces a modulated index of refraction. The pattern of index modulation adds to the pre-existing index of refraction distribution; the simplest configuration has no index modulation in the absence of the applied electric field, and develops an index grating linearly in response to the applied field. A period 48 for the grating 22 is the distance between two domain boundaries entirely including a region corresponding to each domain type.

An alternative realization of the index of refraction grating is obtained by applying a strain field to the poled regions. The photoelastic response of the material produces different index of refraction changes in the different poled regions. The strain field may be applied permanently by, for example, laying down a film on top of the substrate at a high temperature and then cooling to room temperature. A concentration of strain may be achieved by etching away a stripe of the film, for example.

The poled elements 36 and 38 alternate across the grating 22 with no space between them. If additional domain types are available, more complicated patterns of alternation are possible with domains separated by variable distances of the different domain types. For some applications, the grating 22 is a uniformly periodic grating as shown in FIG. 2 so that the domain types contained in one period along the length of the grating 22 are reproduced in the other periods. For other applications, it is advantageous to modify the period to obtain advantages such as multiple spectral peaks or a broader spectral bandwidth. By grating we mean an array of distinguishable structures, including all possible variations of geometry and periodicity.

A periodic index grating is capable of supplying virtual photons in an interaction between optical beams. This means the grating structure is capable of supplying momentum, but not energy, to the interaction. For an interaction to proceed, both energy and momentum must be conserved, and the grating is useful when a momentum increment is required to simultaneously satisfy the two conservation relations. The grating periodicity defines the momentum which is available to the interaction. The grating strength determines the "intensity" of the virtual photon beam. The number of periods in the section of the grating traversed by the optical beam determines the bandwidth of the virtual photon momenta which are available. Because of the bandwidth limitation, the interaction can only proceed within a specific range (or ranges) of optical frequencies. Grating devices are therefore inherently frequency selective, and typically operate around a nominal wavelength.

For example, in a simple reflection process at an angle, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the photons of the input beam 40 have the same optical frequency as the photons of the output beams 44 and 42, so energy conservation is observed. However, the momentum of the photons in input beam 40 and diverted output beam 44 are not the same; for the reflection process to occur, the change in momentum must be supplied by the grating 22 as illustrated by the vector diagram 43 associated with FIG. 2. The grating 22 supplies a virtual (with momentum but no energy) photon to the interaction to enable the conservation of momentum. The momentum vector associated with the i^(th) mode, k_(i) =2πn_(i) /λ_(i), is equal to the product of 2π times the effective index n_(i) for that mode divided by the wavelength λ_(i) for that wave, and it points in the direction of propagation. The magnitude of the momentum vector is also called the propagation constant. In the case of a single period grating, the momentum vector k₈ =2π/Λ points perpendicular to the grating surfaces, and it can have any wavelength value Λ which is present in the Fourier transform of the grating. The optical spacing (the width of the grating lines and spaces) associated with the propagation constant k₈ of a 50% duty cycle grating is therefore Λ/2. The frequency of interaction may also be tuned by adjusting for example the index of refraction of the optical beams, or the grating period by thermal expansion or other means. Depending on how a given device is implemented, an index structure may have a spectrum of wavelengths and vector directions which can be contributed to the interaction. Also, multiple virtual photons may be contributed to an interaction in a so-called "higher order" grating interaction. A "higher order" grating is one which has a period which is related to the required period for momentum conservation by division by an integer. The required momentum virtual photon is obtained from the harmonics of the "higher order" grating. The condition that momentum be conserved by the process is commonly called the Bragg condition, so the gratings of this invention are Bragg gratings, and the incidence angle on the gratings is the Bragg angle for the in-band or resonant frequency component. This dual conservation of energy and momentum is required for any energy beam interaction, whether the energy beam is optical, microwave, acoustic, or any other wavelike energy form consisting of a time-variable energy field. Only the implementation of the grating may change, to produce an impedance modulation for the different forms of energy so that the pattern of the structure can couple with the wavelike energy form.

In FIG. 2, the index grating functions as a frequency-selective optical energy router or reflector. A beam of a characteristic frequency within the interaction bandwidth (capable of interacting with one or more of the virtual photons) is known as an in-band beam, while energy beams of other frequencies are known as out-of-band beams. The grating 22 has a frequency bandwidth which corresponds to the full width at half maximum of the reflection efficiency of the grating as a function of optical frequency. When the index grating is present (the grating is "on"), a beam having an optical frequency within the bandwidth of the grating is reflected from the grating at the angle 46 around a normal 47 to the grating structure. An out-of-band beam transmits through the crystal along the same optical axis and in the same direction as the input beam, forming part of the transmitted output beam 42. An electric field applied in the region including the grating controls the strength of the index modulation (which can also be thought of as the intensity of the virtual photons), adjusting the ratio of the power in the transmitted output beam 42 to that in the reflected output beam 44.

For a weak retro reflecting grating (which does not substantially deplete the input beam), the full width half maximum bandwidth Δλ is given by ##EQU1## where λ=vacuum wavelength of the input beam,

n=index of refraction of the grating, and

L=length of the grating.

For highly reflecting gratings, the effective length is smaller than the total length of the grating, increasing the bandwidth.

The two types of domains may exhibit an index difference before an electric field is applied. In this case, a permanent index grating accompanies the poled switchable index grating. As the electric field is applied, the net modulation in the index of refraction (the grating strength) may be increased or decreased, depending on the polarity. The "grating off" situation (index grating value near zero) is then achieved at a specific value of applied field. The grating can then be turned "on" by applying any other field strength. If the polarity of the applied field is reversed, for example, an index grating is produced with twice the strength of the original permanent grating.

The poled grating structure of our invention has two major advantages over the prior art. First, the poled domain structures can have very sharp boundaries, providing a strong Fourier coefficient at virtual photon momenta which are multiples of the momentum corresponding to the basic grating period. This is very useful in cases where it is impractical to perform lithography with the required small feature size. Seconds strong index modulation gratings can be made even if the optical mode dimension is large compared to the grating period. This is not possible in a uniformly poled substrate excited by patterned electrodes, because the electric field modulation decays exponentially with distance away from the plane of the electrode array, losing most of the modulation within a distance equal to the grating period. The poling process can create poled features with an extremely high aspect ratio, or the ratio of depth of the domain to its width. Using an electric field poling technique, aspect ratios in excess of 250:1 have been fabricated. Because we use essentially uniform electrodes, we get good electrostatic penetration; with deep domain walls, good modulation is available across the entire beam.

The grating may also be a two dimensional array of index changes, in which case the grating has periodicities in two dimensions. The virtual photon contributed by the grating can then contribute momentum in two dimensions. This might be useful, for example, in an application with several output beams from a single grating.

In the preferred embodiment, the ferroelectric crystal is a commercially-available, z-cut, lithium niobate single-crystal wafer. Other cuts, including x-, y-, and angle-cuts can also be used, depending on the poling method and the desired orientation of the poled domains. The fabrication steps include primarily poling and electrode fabrication. Prior to processing, the crystal is cleaned (for example by oxygen plasma ashing) to remove all hydrocarbons and other contaminants remaining from the polishing and handling processes. To control the poling, a mask and processing electrodes are used to create a pattern of applied electric field at the surface of and through the wafer, as described in U.S. patent application No. 08/239,799 filed May 9, 1994. The poling pattern is adjusted to produce the poled domain inversion in regions 36 during the application of the poling field. In brief, a silica layer several microns thick is deposited on the +z surface 23 of the wafer 20. This film is thinned or removed over the regions 36 where domain inversion is desired, a liquid electrode or deposited metal film is used to make a good equipotential surface over the patterned silica, and an electric field exceeding approximately 24 kV/mm is applied with the +z surface 23 at a higher potential than the -z surface 25. Using this technique, ferroelectric crystals of lithium niobate have been poled to create patterns of two domain types which are of reverse polarity (domain inversion). The magnitude of the electro-optic coefficient for the two types of domains is identical, although with a reverse polarity.

In addition to the preferred technique, domain inversion has been achieved in ferroelectric using in-diffusion, ion-exchange, and alternate electric field poling techniques. Domain formation by thermally-enhanced in-diffusion has been demonstrated in lithium niobate, using titanium. The triangular shape of the inverted region limits the interaction efficiency for small domain size, however, and is useful mainly in waveguide devices with long periods. Patterned poling via ion exchange has been demonstrated in KTP in a salt bath containing rubidium and barium ions, in which the potassium ions in the crystal were exchanged for the rubidium ions. Electric field poling using alternate techniques to the preferred one have also been demonstrated in both lithium niobate and lithium tantalate. Potentially, all solid ferroelectric materials, including KTP and barium titanate, can be poled by electric field domain-inversion techniques. (Solid means holding its structure for a certain period of time, such as cooled fluids, glasses, crosslinked polymers, etc.)

Gratings with different characteristics are generated by the different techniques. Electric field poling aligns the domains in the crystal without producing an intrinsic change in the index of refraction, while the ion-exchange and diffusion techniques do create a index change in the poled regions. A permanent index grating accompanies the switchable poled grating when these latter methods are used.

In general, there are two types of differing domains, at least the first type of which is poled.

Although only two types of domains are required, more complex switchable grating structures can be fabricated with additional types of domains. The second domain type may be reverse poled, unpoled, or poled at another angle, and it may be distinguished by possessing a distinct electrical activity coefficient, (e.g. the electro-optic or the piezo-optic coefficient). For example, it may in some applications be cost effective to fabricate the device from unpoled lithium niobate wafers, in which case the substrate wafer is comprised of multiple randomly oriented domains. The poled domains will have a uniform orientation while the orientation in the other domains will be random. The performance of the device will be affected by the details of the random pattern, depending on the type of device. As another example, the second domains may be oriented perpendicular to the first or at another angle, and the difference in the electrical response can still produce a useful electronically controlled structure. The poled domains may also be formed in a material which was previously unpoled and randomly oriented on a molecular scale, such as in fused silica or polymers. The poling process orients the structure of the material to form the first domain type, while the second domain type consists of the unpoled or randomly oriented regions in the material.

In an alternate technique, the poled structure can be formed by selectively changing or destroying the electrical activity coefficient in regions corresponding to the second domain type. The orientation of the atomic structures in these regions does not need to be altered: if the electrical activity is changed in the second domain region, the domains are different. For example in nonlinear polymers, the electro-optic coefficient may be disabled by irradiation, producing regions of electrical activity where the irradiation is masked off. A similar effect has been demonstrated in lithium niobate, where proton exchange destroys the nonlinear coefficient. Modification of the electro-optic coefficient can also be achieved by optical radiation, electron bombardment, and/or ion bombardment in many other materials, including most nonlinear materials such as KTP and lithium tantalate.

In lithium niobate, an applied field E₃ along the z axis of the crystal induces a change in the extraordinary index of refraction δn_(e) which is given by ##EQU2## where r₃₃ is the appropriate electro-optic nonlinear optical coefficient. Because r₃₃ is the largest nonlinear constant in lithium niobate, it is best to use the change in the extraordinary index in practical devices. (The nonlinear constant r₁₃ which produces a change in the ordinary index of refraction due to an applied E₃, is a factor of 3.6 smaller than r₃₃.) To use the change in the extraordinary index, the light waves must be polarized along the z axis of the material. In a z-cut crystal, this polarization is called TM. (In TE polarization, the electric vector lies in the plane of the crystal surface. The only other significant nonlinear coefficient is r₁₅, which couples TE and TM waves upon the application of an electric field E₁ or E₂.)

Because the index change induced in the poled structures is quite small (with an applied field of 10 V/μm along the z axis of a lithium niobate substrate, the index change δn_(e) is only 1.6×10⁻³), the grating reflector of FIG. 2 has a strong angular dependence. The Brewster angle for a weak index change is 45°, so the gratings will totally transmit any TE polarized wave when the planes of the grating are disposed at an angle of 45° with respect to the phase front of the light beam. The device may therefore be used as a polarizer. The reflected beam will always be essentially polarized at 45° incidence. If the reflection coefficient for the TM wave is high, which can be arranged with enough grating periods and a high applied field, the extinction ratio of the polarizer can also be very high in the forward direction. At normal incidence, of course, there is no difference in reflection between the two polarizations due to this effect (although there are differences due to other effects such as the different electro-optic coefficients described above). A total internal reflection device operating at grazing incidence is far from Brewster's angle and has little difference in reflection due to this effect.

The wafer material can be any polable solid dielectric material, including ferroelectrics, polymer films, and some amorphous materials such as fused silica which can also be poled for producing many useful devices according to the invention. The poled material may also be a thin film deposited on a substrate of a second material. Many of the polable thin films, such as fused silica, lithium niobate, potassium niobate, barium titanate, zinc oxide, II-VI materials, and various polymers, have been successfully deposited on a substrate. A wide variety of substrates have been used, including MgO, silicon, gallium arsenide, lithium niobate, and various glasses, including quartz and fused silica. For the domains to be electronically switchable, they must consist of electro-optic materials, which are materials having an index change induced by an applied electric field.

After the poling step, the liquid electrode material and silica masking film are preferably removed. Referring again to FIG. 2, a first electrode 24 and a second electrode 26 confront the dielectric material in order to provide a means to create the electric field which controls the grating. (Confronting a material means placed close to the material but not necessarily touching, approximately aligned to the surface of the material but not necessarily with a constant gap dimension, and includes situations with additional material of varying dimensions placed on top of the material.) The electrodes 24 and 26, consisting of an electrically-conductive material, are preferably laid out on opposing surfaces of the crystal in a spatially delimited manner using standard deposition techniques. These electrodes are referred to as being on opposing planes even though the surfaces may be curved and/or non-parallel as part of a larger geometry. The electrodes may be formed by any material that provides sufficient transport of electrical charge to achieve an adequate field strength to activate the poled grating in a time consistent with the application. For example, the electrodes could alternatively consist of metals such as aluminum, gold, titanium, chromium, etc., conductive paint, epoxy, semiconducting material, or optically transparent materials such as oxides of indium and tin, and liquid conductors such as salt solutions. They may also confront the surfaces 23 and 25 with a gap filled with air, an optically transparent buffer layer, and/or other material. Only one electrode is required since a potential voltage difference can be created between that electrode and any potential reference such as an exterior ground plane, a second electrode, or multiple electrodes. The electrodes are the electric field creating means because the application of a voltage to an electrode establishes an electric field pattern which is determined by the electrode. A voltage and current supply is of course also needed. The electrodes are placed so that the control electric field is applied through the active volume of the invention, which may consist of a pattern poled region or a grating.

In the case of metallic electrodes, it may be best to incorporate a coating deposited below the electrode, to reduce the optical loss which occurs when a portion of the guided wave mode extends to the metallic electrode. The coating should be thin enough to maintain high electric field at the surface in the case of multiple electrodes mounted on the same surface, but thick enough to reduce the optical loss. Another coating is also useful above the electrodes to reduce the probability of breakdown.

A voltage control source 32 (or potential source) provides the electrical potential to drive the electrodes through connections 30 to activate the grating. The activated electrodes are polarized relative to each other according to the polarity of the applied voltage. The voltage of the source produces a large enough electric field through the poled regions to switch a significant amount of light into the switched output beam 44. The voltage of the source is variable to provide a means to control the ratio of power in the two output beams. Substantially all of the input beam may be reflected with a long grating if the electric field is sufficiently high, forming an electrically activated mirror. For lower electric fields, the grating forms a partial reflector. The voltage control source may be a battery, an electrical transformer, a gas powered generator, or any other type of controllable source of electrical current and potential. The control means 32 may also incorporate a controller which generates a time dependent voltage, and which supplies the current to change the voltage on the electrodes 24 and 26 at the frequencies required by the application. The control means 32 may also have multiple outputs capable of controlling multiple devices, and which might be sequenced temporally according to some pattern. The source 32 may have control inputs for manual or electronic control of its function by computer or by another instrument.

In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, it should be understood that the variations described in reference to FIG. 2 apply to the embodiments described below, and that the variations described in reference to the figures below also apply to FIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a guided-wave embodiment of the present invention is shown. Specifically, this embodiment is an electrically-controlled, frequency-selective waveguide retroreflector. All of the optical beams in this device are confined in two dimensions by an optical waveguide 64, which traverses one surface of the polable dielectric material that forms the substrate 60 of the device 61.

A waveguide is any structure which permits the propagation of a wave throughout its length despite diffractive effects, and possibly curvature of the guide structure. An optical waveguide is defined by an extended region of increased index of refraction relative to the surrounding medium. The strength of the guiding, or the confinement, of the wave depends on the wavelength, the index difference and the guide width. Stronger confinement leads generally to narrower modes. A waveguide may support multiple optical modes or only a single mode, depending on the strength of the confinement. In general, an optical mode is distinguished by its electromagnetic field geometry in two dimensions, by its polarization state, and by its wavelength. The polarization state of a wave guided in a birefringent material or an asymmetric waveguide is typically linear polarized. However, the general polarization state may contain a component of nonparallel polarization as well as elliptical and unpolarized components, particularly if the wave has a large bandwidth. If the index of refraction difference is small enough (e.g. Δn=0.003) and the dimension of the guide is narrow enough (e.g. W=4 μm), the guide will only confine a single transverse mode (the lowest order mode) over a range of wavelengths. If the waveguide is implemented on the surface of a substrate so that there is an asymmetry in the index of refraction above and below the waveguide, there is a cutoff value in index difference or waveguide width below which no mode is confined. A waveguide may be implemented in a substrate (e.g. by indiffusion), on a substrate (e.g. by etching away the surrounding regions, or by applying a coating and etching away all but a strip to define the waveguide), inside a substrate (e.g. by contacting or bonding several processed substrate layers together). In all cases, we speak of the waveguide as traversing the substrate. The optical mode which propagates in the waveguide has a transverse dimension which is related to all of the confinement parameters, not just the waveguide width.

The substrate is preferably a single crystal of lithium niobate, forming a chip which has two opposing faces 63 and 65 which are separated by the thickness of the wafer. The opposing faces need not be parallel or even flat. The waveguide is preferably formed by a well-established technique such as annealed proton exchange (APE) on face 63. Alternatively, ions other than protons may also be indiffused or ion exchanged into the substrate material. The APE waveguide increases the crystal extraordinary refractive index, forming a waveguide for light polarized along the z-axis. For a z-cut crystal, this corresponds to a TM polarized mode. Waveguides formed by alternate techniques, such as titanium in-diffusion in lithium niobate, may support both the TM and TE polarizations. Preferably, the waveguide is designed to support only a single lowest order transverse mode, eliminating the complexities associated with higher order modes. The higher order transverse modes have different propagation constants than the lowest order mode, and higher scattering loss, which can be problems in some applications. However, multimode waveguides might be preferred for some applications, such as for high power propagation.

One alternative configuration is to excite the grating by applying pressure rather than by directly applying an electric field. The effect of an applied pressure is indirectly the same: by the piezoelectric effect, the applied stress produces an electric field, which in turn changes the index of refraction of the domains. However, no sustaining energy need be applied to maintain the stress if the structure is compressed mechanically, for example. This alternative, like the others mentioned herein, apply also to the other similar realizations of the invention described below. Once the waveguide dimensions are determined, a photomask for the waveguide is generated and the pattern is transferred to a masking material on the substrate, by one of many well known lithographic processes. The mask material may be SiO₂, tantalum or other metals, or other acid resisting materials. To fabricate an APE waveguide, the masked substrate material is immersed in molten benzoic acid to exchange protons from the acid for lithium ions in the crystal. The resulting step index waveguide may then be annealed for several hours at around 300° C. to diffuse the protons deeper into the crystal and create a low-loss waveguide with high electrical activity coefficients. In addition to in-diffusion and ion exchange two-dimensional waveguides, planar and two dimensional ridge or strip-loaded waveguides can be formed. Planar waveguides may be formed by depositing the electrically active material on a substrate of lower index. Deposition techniques for waveguide fabrication are well-known and include liquid phase epitaxy (LPE), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), flame hydrolysis, spinning, and sputtering. Ridge waveguides can be formed from these planar guides by using processes such as lift-off, wet etch, or dry etch such as reactive ion etching (RIE). Planar guides can also be used in the present invention, particularly in devices using a variable angle of diffraction off the grating.

The grating 62 in this embodiment is disposed normal to the optical waveguide 64 which traverses the substrate. The grating is composed of a first type 66 and second type 68 of domain, which do not necessarily extend through the substrate. For example, when the active material is poled using in-diffusion or ion exchange, the inverted domains 66 typically extend to a finite depth in the material. The partial domains may also be formed when the poling is achieved by destroying the electrical activity of the material (or reducing the electro-optic activity) by a technique such as ion bombardment or UV irradiation.

The optical input beeen 80 is incident on and is coupled into the waveguide. Coupling refers to the process of transferring power from one region into another across some kind of generalized boundary such as across an interface, or between two parallel or angled waveguides, or between a planar guide and a stripe guide, or between single mode and multimode waveguides, etc. When the grating is on, a portion of the input beam is coupled back into a retroreflected output beam 82. While the retroreflection of the grating need not be perfect, i.e. the grating may reflect the light to within a few degrees of the reverse direction, the waveguide captures most of this light and forms a perfectly retroreflected beam. The imperfection of the retroreflection results in a coupling loss of the retroreflected beam into the waveguide 64. When the grating is off (when the controlling electrical field is adjusted to the "off" position in which the index grating has a minimum value near zero, typically at zero field), the input beam continues to propagate in the same direction through the waveguide to form a transmitted output beam 84. As in the bulk device, the strength of the grating can be varied with the voltage source 76 to control the ratio of the power in the two output beams.

A first electrode 70 and second 72 electrode confront opposing faces of the dielectric material 60. The substrate is a dielectric because it is capable of withstanding an applied electric field without damage, but it need not be a perfect insulator as long as the current flow does not adversely affect the performance of the device. The electrodes may be formed of any electrically conducting material. There must also be a means for creating an electric field through the dielectric material using the first electrode structure.

The electrodes bridge at least two of the elements of the first type of poled structure that forms the grating. This means the electric field produced by the electrodes penetrates into at least the two elements. Thus, these elements can be activated by the field. Two wires 74 preferably connect the voltage control source 76 to the two electrodes to provide an electric field in the region formed by the intersection of the waveguide 64 and the poled structure 62. The wires may be formed from any material and in any geometry with sufficient conductivity at the operating frequency to allow charging the electrodes as desired for the application. The wires may be round, flat, coaxial cables, or integrated lead pattern conductors, and they may be resistors, capacitors, semiconductors, or leaky insulators.

Alternately, the electrodes can be arranged in any manner that allows an electric field to be applied across the electrically active material. For example, the electrodes may be interspersed in different layers on a substrate, with the active material between the electrodes. This configuration enables high electric fields to be produced with low voltages, and is particularly useful for amorphous active materials, such as silica and some polymers, which can be deposited over the electrode material.

The poled structure 62 is preferably deeper than the waveguide so that the intersection between the waveguide 64 and the poled structure 62 has the transverse dimensions of the mode in the waveguide and the longitudinal dimensions of the grating.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show alternate electrode configurations in which the electrodes are disposed on a common face of the dielectric material 189. These configurations are especially useful for embodiments of the present invention that use a waveguide 180 to guide an optical beam, since the same-surface electrode configurations permit high electric fields at low voltage. These electrode structures are of particular interest for low voltage control of the grating 182 because of the proximity of the electrodes to the section of the waveguide which traverses the grating. In the electrode configuration 186 depicted in FIG. 4, the first electrode 170 and second electrode 172 confront the dielectric material on the same surface. These electrodes are referred to as being on a common plane even though the surface may be curved as part of a larger geometry. The first electrode is placed above a portion of the waveguide that contains several grating elements, each of which consists of alternate regions of a first type of domain 184 and a second type of domain 185. The second electrode is positioned around the first electrode. The distance between the electrodes along the waveguide is approximately constant along the axis of the waveguide for cases where a uniform field along the axis of the waveguide is desired. The electrode spacing may also be varied to taper the field strength, as shown schematically in the device 188 of FIG. 6. A voltage source 174 connected between the two electrodes disposed as shown in FIG. 4, is capable of generating electric fields between the electrodes. The electric field vectors 176 have their largest component perpendicular to the surface of the material, in the region of the electrically-active waveguide. For a z-cut ferroelectric crystal such as lithium niobate, this electric field structure activates the largest electro-optic coefficient r₃₃, creating a change in index for a TM polarized optical beam. For an applied electric field of 10 V/μm and an optical beam with a wavelength of 1.5 μm in lithium niobate, the strength of a first order grating is 40 cm⁻¹.

A means 178 for contacting the electrodes to a voltage source is required for each of the electrode configurations. To form this means, an electrically conducting material, such as a wire, is electrically contacted between the electrodes on the device and the terminals of the potential source. In all electrode configurations, each electrode typically has a section, or pad, or contact, to which the wire is contacted. The pads are preferably of large enough size to reduce placement tolerances on the electrical contact means for easier bonding. The wire can then be contacted to the pads using a technique such as wire bonding by ultrasonic waves, heating, or conductive epoxy. Alternately, a spring-loaded conductor plate can be placed in direct contact with the electrode to make the required electrical connection to the voltage source. In the figures, the electrodes are typically large enough and function as the contact pads by themselves. Another realization 187 of the same-surface electrode structure is shown in FIG. 5, wherein the first electrode 171 and second electrode 173 are placed on either side of the optical waveguide. When an electric potential is applied across the two electrodes positioned in this manner, the electric field vectors 177 have their largest component parallel to the substrate surface. For a z-cut ferroelectric crystal, the electro-optic coefficient that creates a change in index for a TM polarized optical wave and the applied electric field is r₁₃. For an applied electric field of 10 V/μm and an optical beam with a wavelength of 1.5 μm in lithium niobate, the first order grating coupling constant is 12 cm⁻¹.

Alternately, for TE waveguides the active electro-optic coefficients are switched for the two configurations. For an electric field vector perpendicular to the surface of the chip, the appropriate coefficient is r₁₃, while for an electric field vector parallel to the surface of the chip, the electro-optic coefficient used is r₃₃. Similar situations apply for x- or y-cut crystals, or intermediate cuts.

As a further variation of the configuration of FIG. 5, the electrodes are asymmetrically arranged so that one electrode approximately covers the waveguide 180 and the other electrode is displaced somewhat to the side. In this configuration, the strong vertical field induced under the edges of the adjacent electrodes is made to pass predominantly through the waveguide region under one of the electrodes.

In FIG. 6, the electrodes 175 and 179 have a separation from the center electrode 181 which is tapered. When a voltage is applied across these electrodes, this configuration produces a tapered field strength, with the strong field towards the right and the weaker field towards the left, taken in the sense of FIG. 6. By "tapered" we mean that any parameter has a generalized spatial variation from one value to another without specifying whether the variation is linear or even monotonic; the parameter may be a gap, a width, a density, an index, a thickness, a duty cycle, etc. The index changes induced in the poled domains towards the left of the waveguide 180 are therefore weaker than the index changes induced towards the right. This might be useful, for example, to obtain a very narrow bandwidth total reflector where it is needed to extend the length of the interaction region. In non-normal incidence angle devices, such as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the taper might be useful to optimize the coupling of a specific input mode into a specific output mode.

In all electrode configurations, the voltage applied can range from a constant value to a rapidly varying or pulsed signal, and can be applied with either polarity applied between the electrodes. The value of the voltage is chosen to avoid catastrophic damage to the electrically-active material and surrounding materials in a given application.

When a constant electric field is applied across materials such as lithium niobate, charge accumulation at the electrodes can cause DC drift of the electric field strength with time. The charges can be dispersed by occasionally alternating the polarity of the voltage source, so that the electric field strength returns to its full value. If the time averaged electric field is close to zero, the net charge drift will also be close to zero. For applications sensitive to such drift, care should be taken to minimize the photorefractive sensitivity of the material, such as by in-diffusion of MgO, and operation is preferably arranged without a DC field.

Surface layers are useful for preventing electric field breakdown and lossy optical contact with the electrodes. Losses are particularly important for waveguide devices, since the beam travels at or near the surface, while breakdown is most critical when electrodes of opposite polarity are placed on the same surface. This concern applies to the poling of the active material as well as to the electro-optic switching. The largest vector component of the electric field between two same-surface electrodes is parallel to the surface of the material. Both the breakdown problem and the optical loss problem can be considerably reduced by depositing a layer of optically transparent material with a high dielectric strength between the guiding region and the electrodes. Silicon dioxide is one good example of such a material. Since there is also a potential for breakdown in the air above and along the surfaces between the electrodes, a similar layer of the high-dielectric-strength material can be deposited on top of the electrodes.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show two embodiments of a electrically-controlled frequency-selective waveguide coupler. In FIG. 7, a pair of two-dimensional waveguides traverse one face of a dielectric material, and intersect at an angle 118 to make a tee, forming a three-port device. A grating 100, consisting of a first type 104 and second type 102 of domains, is disposed at an angle to the two guides in the intersection region between them (the volume jointly occupied by the optical modes in the two waveguides). The peak index change in the intersection region is preferably equal to the peak index change in the waveguides. This is done if the fabrication of the tee structure is accomplished in one step (be it by indiffusion, ion exchange, etching, etc.). In the alternative approach of laying down two waveguides in subsequent steps, which is most convenient in the crossing waveguide geometry of FIG. 8, the peak index change in the intersection region is twice the index change in the waveguides, which is not needed. As always, the periodicity and angle of the grating is chosen such that the reflection process is phase matched by the momentum of a virtual photon within the bandwidth of the grating. For optimal coupling between an in-band input beam in the first waveguide and an output beam 114 in the second waveguide 108, the angle of incidence of the input beam is equal to the angle of diffraction off the grating. In this case, the bisector of the angle between the two guides is normal to the domain boundaries of the grating in the plane of the waveguide.

An input beam 112 is incident on and is coupled into the first waveguide 106. A first electrode 120 and second electrode 122 are laid out on the same face of the dielectric material so that an electric field is created in the intersection region between the waveguides, when a voltage source 124 connected to the two electrodes by conductors 126 is turned on. The electric field controls the strength of the grating in the intersection region via the electro-optic effect, coupling the in-band beam from the first waveguide into the second waveguide to form a reflected output beam 114. With the grating turned off, the input beam continues to propagate predominantly down the first waveguide segment to form a transmitted output beam 116 with very little loss. Alternately, counter-propagating beams can be used in the waveguide so that the input beam enters though the second waveguide 108, and is switched into the output waveguide 106 by interacting with the grating.

In single mode systems, the grating strength is preferably spatially distributed in a nonuniform manner so that a lowest order Gaussian mode entering waveguide 106 is coupled into the lowest order Gaussian mode of waveguide 108. The grating strength can be modulated by adjusting the geometry of the electrode, by adjusting the gaps between the electrodes, and by adjusting the duty cycle of the grating. The bandwidth of the grating may also be enhanced by one of a number of well known techniques such as chirping, phase shifting, and the use of multiple period structures.

The size of the coupling region is limited, in the geometry of FIGS. 7 and 8 by the size of the intersection region between the guides where their modes overlap. To obtain a high net interaction strength for a given electric field strength, it is desirable to increase the size of the waveguides to produce a larger intersection. However, large waveguides are multimode, which may not be desirable for some applications. If adiabatic expansions and contractions are used, the advantages of both a large intersection region and single mode waveguides can be obtained simultaneously. The input waveguide 106 begins as a narrow waveguide and is increased in width adiabatically as the intersection region is approached. The output waveguide 108 has a large width at the intersection to capture most of the reflected light, and it is tapered down in width adiabatically to a narrow waveguide. The idea of adiabatic tapering of an input and/or an output waveguide can be applied to many of the interactions described herein,

Referring to FIG. 8, the two waveguides 136 and 138 intersect at an angle 158 to make an x intersection, forming a four-port device. This device is a particularly versatile waveguide switch, since two switching operations occur simultaneously (beam 142 into beams 146 and 148, and beam 144 into beams 148 and 146). The grating 130, consisting of a first type 134 and second type 132 of domains, is disposed at an angle to the two guides in the intersection region between them. The angle of the grating is preferably chosen such that the bisector of the angle between the two guides is normal to the domain boundaries of the grating, in the plane of the waveguide.

A first input beam 142 is incident on and is coupled into the first waveguide 136 and a second input beam 144 is coupled into the second waveguide 138. A first electrode 150 and second electrode 152 are laid out on the dielectric material so that an electric field is created in the intersection region between the waveguides, when a voltage source 154 connected between the two electrodes is turned on. The electric field controls the strength of the index grating in the intersection region through the electro-optic effect. When the grating is on, a portion of the in-band component of the first input beam is coupled from the first waveguide to the second waveguide to form a first output beam 146. At the same time, a portion of the in-band component of the second input beam from the second waveguide is coupled into the first waveguide to form the second output beam 148. In addition, the out-of-band components of the two beams, and any unswitched components of the in-band beams, continue to propagate down their respective waveguides to form additional portions of the appropriate output beams. Thus, for two beams with multiple optical frequency components, a single frequency component in the two input beams can be switched between the two output beams.

The waveguide may only be a segment, in which case it is connected to other optical components located either off the substrate, or integrated onto the same substrate. For example, the waveguide segment could be connected to pump lasers, optical fibers, crossing waveguides, other switchable gratings, mirror devices, and other elements. An array of crossing waveguide switches would comprise an optical switching network.

In FIG. 9, a further embodiment of the waveguide coupling switch is shown. The domain walls of the grating are now disposed at a non-normal angle to the surface 157 of the crystal 158, so that the input beam 159 in waveguide 160 is reflected out of the plane of the crystal to form a reflected output beam 161. As before, an unreflected beam continues to propagate through the waveguide to from a transmitted output beam 162. An optically transparent first electrode 163, which can consist of indium tin oxide, is disposed on one face of the dielectric material 158, over a portion of the grating that crosses the waveguide. A second electrode structure 164, which may be optically absorbing, is disposed on the material. As in all cases described in this disclosure, the second electrode may be arranged in one of many alternate configurations: surrounding the first electrode as in FIG. 7, on opposite sides of the material 158 as on FIG. 2, tapered similar to the configuration shown in FIG. 6. The electrodes are connected with two wires 156 to a voltage source 154, which controls the power splitting ratio of the in-band beam between the transmitted beam 162 and the reflected beam 161. Alternately, the electrode configuration could be as shown in FIG. 5, in which case both electrodes may be opaque.

Referring again to FIG. 9, the domain walls are preferably formed by electric field poling of a ferroelectric crystal which is cut at an angle to the z-axis 165. Since the electric field poled domains travel preferentially down the z axis, poling an angle-cut crystal by this technique results in domain boundaries parallel to the z axis, at the same angle to the surface. The angle 166 of the cut of the crystal is preferably 45° so that light propagating in the plane of the crystal may be reflected out of the substrate normal to the surface of the material (any angle may be used). The domains shown in FIG. 9 are planar, but can also be configured in more general configurations. A planar grating will produce a flat output phase front from a flat input phase front. If the device shown is used as a bulk reflector without the waveguide, a collimated input beam will produce a collimated output beam. The device is useful as a bulk reflector for example if a beam is incident from outside the device, or if the waveguide is brought to an end within the device with some distance between the end of the waveguide and the poled reflector. In some cases, however, it may be desirable to produce a curved output phase front from a collimated beam, as in the case of some applications requiring focusing, such as reading data from a disk. By patterning a set of curved domains on the upper surface of the substrate illustrated in FIG. 9, a set of curved domains may be poled into the bulk of the material since the domain inversion propagates preferentially along the z axis. A concave (or convex) set of domains may therefore be formed which create a cylindrical lens when excited by a field. Wedges and more complicated volume structures oriented at an angle to the surface may be formed by the same process.

In an alternate method, a z-cut crystal can be used as the substrate if the poling technique causes the domain boundaries to propagate at an angle to the z-axis. For example, titanium (Ti) in-diffusion in a z-cut crystal of lithium niobate produces triangular domains that would be appropriate for reflecting the beam out of the surface of the crystal. The angle of the domains formed by in-diffusion with respect to the surface is typically about 30°, so that an input beam incident on the grating will be reflected out of the surface at an angle of about 60° to the surface of the crystal. The output beam may then be extracted with a prism, or from the rear surface (which may be polished at an angle) after a total internal reflection from the top surface.

The electrode structure shown excites both an E₃ component, and either an E₁ or an E₂ component. A TM polarized input wave 159 experiences an index change which is a combination of the extraordinary and the ordinary index changes.

In FIG. 10 there is shown an embodiment of a switchable waveguide directional coupler. A first waveguide 204 is substantially parallel to a second waveguide 206, over a certain length. While the beams propagate adjacent each other and in a similar direction, their central axes are displaced. The central axes are never brought coaxial so that the waveguides do not intersect. However, the waveguide segments are in close proximity in a location defined by the length of the coupler, so that the transverse profiles of the optical modes of the two waveguides overlap to a large or small extent. The propagation of the two modes is then at least evanescently coupled (which means the exponential tails overlap). The evanescent portion of the mode field is the exponentially decaying portion outside the high index region of the waveguide. The propagation constant associated with a mode of each of the two waveguides is determined by k=2πn_(eff) /λ in the direction of propagation. The effective index n_(eff) is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the group velocity of propagation, which varies according to the mode in the waveguide. The value of n_(eff) is determined by the overlap of the mode profile with the guided wave structure.

Preferably, the width of the two waveguides, and thus the propagation constants of the modes in the two waveguides, are different, so that coupling between the modes is not phasematched when the grating is off. (The index of refraction profiles of the two waveguides may also be adjusted to create different propagation constants.) With the grating off, any input beam 210 in the first waveguide will continue to propagate in that waveguide to form a transmitted output beam 214 exiting the first waveguide 204. When the grating is on, the grating makes up the difference in the propagation constants of the two waveguides so that coupling between the two modes is phasematched, and an in-band output beam 212 exits the second waveguide 206. To optimize the coupling, the grating period Λ is chosen so that the magnitude of the difference of the propagation constants in the two waveguides is equal to the grating constant (within an error tolerance). The propagation constants of the two waveguides may alternately be chosen to be equal, so that coupling between the two waveguides occurs when the grating is off. In this case, turning the grating on reduces the coupling between the two guides.

The strength of the grating determines a coupling constant, which defines the level of coupling between the two waveguides. Along the length of the interaction region of the two waveguides, the power transfers sinusoidally back and forth between the guides, so that coupling initially occurs from the first waveguide to the second, and then back to the first waveguide. The distance between two locations where the power is maximized in a given waveguide mode is known as the beat length of the coupled waveguides. The beat length depends on the strength of the grating.

A first electrode 220 and second electrode 222 are positioned on the material surface to create an electric field across the grating region 202 when a voltage is applied between the two electrodes. A voltage source 226 is connected to the two electrodes with an electrically conductive material 224. The strength of the grating, and thus the beat length between the two waveguides, is controlled by the voltage applied across the grating.

The propagation constants of the two guides are strongly dependent on wavelength. Since the momentum of the virtual photon is essentially or dominantly fixed (i.e. determined by parameters which are not varied in an application), power is transferred to the second waveguide only in the vicinity of a single frequency with a frequency bandwidth depending on the length of the coupling region. Depending on the grating strength, an adjustable portion of the in-band input beam exits the second waveguide as the coupled output beam 212, while the out-of-band portion of the input beam exits the first waveguide as the transmitted output beam 214 along with the remainder of the in-band beam.

The coupling between the two modes can be controlled electro-optically by several means, including changing the strength of the coupling between the modes, increasing the overlap of the modes, or changing the effective index of one of the waveguides. Electro-optically controlled coupling, described above, is the preferable method. In order to couple efficiently between the modes in the two waveguides, the input beam is forward-scattered, which requires the smallest grating period.

The coupling grating can alternatively be implemented as a combination of permanent and switched gratings as described above in conjunction with FIG. 2. Here we give a detailed example of how this can be done. After forming the desired periodic domains, the substrate can be chemically etched to form a relief grating with exactly the same period as the poled structure. For the preferred material of lithium niobate, the etch can be accomplished without any further masking steps, since the different types of domains etch at different rates. For example, hydrofluoric acid (HF) causes the -z domains of lithium niobate to etch significantly (>100×) faster than the +z domains. Thus by immersing the z-cut crystals in a 50% HF solution, the regions consisting of the first type of domain are etched while the regions consisting of the second type of domain essentially remain unetched. This procedure produces a permanent coupling grating which can be used on its own to produce coupling between the two waveguides. After the electrodes are applied, the poled grating can be excited to produce an additive index of refraction grating which is superimposed on that of the etched substrate. The etch depth may be controlled so that the effective index change induced by the permanent etched grating can be partially or wholly compensated by the electro-optically induced grating when the electrodes are excited at one polarity, while the index grating is doubled at the other excitation polarity. A push-pull grating is thereby produced whereby the grating can be switched between an inactive state and a strongly active state.

An etched grating is also useful when the etched region is filled with an electro-optical material, such as a polymer or an optically transparent liquid crystal, with a high electro-optic coefficient and an index close to that of the substrate. Preferably, the filled etched region extends down into the optical beam. When a voltage is applied across the filled etched region, the index of the filler material is also varied around that of the rest of the waveguide.

Alternately, the overlap of the modes in the two waveguides can be electro-optically modified. For example, the region between the two waveguides could have its refractive index raised. This reduces the confinement of the waveguides, and spreads the spatial extent of the individual modes towards each other, increasing the overlap. To implement this approach, the region between the two waveguides may be reverse poled with respect to the polarity of the substrate traversed by the waveguides. If the electrode extends across both the waveguides and the intermediate region, an applied voltage will increase the index of the area between the waveguides while decreasing the index within the two waveguides. The resulting reduction in mode confinement thus increases the overlap and the coupling between the two modes. Care must be taken not to induce undesirable reflections or mode coupling loss in the waveguides, which might occur at the edge of the poled region. These losses can be minimized, for example, by tapering the geometry of the poled regions or of the electrodes so that any mode change occurs adiabatically along the waveguide, minimizing reflections. An adiabatic change means a very slow change compared to an equilibrium maintaining process which occurs at a definite rate. In this case, it means the change is slow compared to the rate of energy redistribution which occurs due to diffraction within the waveguide and which maintains the light in the mode characteristic to the waveguide.

A third means to change the coupling between the two waveguides is to change the effective index of one of the waveguides relative to the other. Thus, the propagation constant of the guide is changed, which in turn alters the phasematching condition. This effect may be maximized by poling one of the waveguides so that its electro-optic coefficient has the opposite sign from that of the other waveguide. In this case, the coupling grating may be a permanent or a switched grating. A first electrode covers both waveguides and the region between them, while a second electrode may be disposed on both sides of the first electrode. An electric field applied between the two electrodes causes the propagation constant of one waveguide to increase, and that of the other waveguide to decrease, thus maximizing the difference in propagation constants. The grating coupling process is maximally efficient only at a particular difference in propagation constants. By tuning the applied voltage, the phasematching ray be adjusted as desired. This effect can be used to create a wavelength tunable filter.

The parallel waveguides shown in FIG. 10 may be nonparallel, and the waveguides may not even be straight. If it is desired, for instance, to spatially modify the interaction strength between the waveguides, this end can be accomplished by spatially adjusting the separation between the guides. These modifications may also, of course, be applied to the subsequent embodiments of parallel waveguide couplers described herein.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13 there are shown alternate embodiments of the crossing waveguide coupler for controlling the profile of the reflected beam. In each embodiment, the area covered by the grating does not extend entirely across the intersection region of the two waveguides. The motivation for these grating structures is best understood with reference to FIG. 11. Depending on how it is configured, the power coupling structure 282 may distort the spatial profile of the mode 284 it couples into the output waveguide. A power coupler which is uniform in space and which uniformly covers the entire intersection region 280 between two waveguides disposed at a large angle to each other such as 90° will produce an output beam profile such as assymmetric profile 286. The power in the input beam decreases as it passes through the power coupling structure or grating. In the case of a right angle intersection, the near field profile of the reflected beam matches the monotonically decreasing power in the input beam. The disadvantage with the nonsymmetric profile 286 lies in single mode structures where only a fraction of the coupled power will remain in the waveguide. Much of the power will be lost from the guide.

For single mode devices, a structure is needed which couples power into the Gaussian-like spatial configuration 288 of the lowest order mode of the output waveguide. To accomplish this goal, the region 282 must be extended out into the evanescent tails of the guided modes, and the net interaction must be modulated, either geometrically or by spatially adjusting the local strength of the power coupling grating. FIGS. 12 and 13 show ways to accomplish this end with geometrical arrangements of gratings. It is also possible to accomplish this end by spatially modulating the "duty cycle" of the grating within the power coupling region 282, by changing the order of the grating in selected regions, and in the case of electrically controlled coupling, by tapering the strength of the applied electric fields (by adjusting electrode spacing as illustrated in FIG. 6, or by adjusting the electrode duty cycle in the case of grating electrode structures). The duty cycle of a grating means the fraction of each period which is occupied by a given domain type; the duty cycle may vary with position.

In FIG. 12, a device 300 with a modified grating structure is shown, in which the grating area 310 covers part, but not all of the rectangular intersection region of the two normal guides 316 and 318. With the grating unactivated, the input beam 302 passes through guide 316 undeflected to exit as output beam 308. The dimensions of the intersection region match the widths 304 and 305 of the two waveguides. The presence of a small region of power coupling structure at any point in the intersection region will result in local coupling between a given transverse segment of the beam profile in an input waveguide into a given transverse segment of the beam profile in an output waveguide. The reflected beam profile is constructed from the propagated sum of these phased-coupled contributions. The grating region 310 depicted is triangular in shape, with the points of the triangle 311, 312, and 313. The shape of the grating region can be modified from the triangular, and the local grating strength can be modulated. The exact shape of the grating region which optimizes single mode coupling characteristic between the waveguides can be calculated with an established waveguide propagation technique, such as the beam propagation method.

A further embodiment of a single-mode coupling grating device 340 is shown in FIG. 13. The grating region 350 is a double convex shape, with one point at corner 351 common with waveguides 346 and 348 and beams 330 and 342, and the other point on opposite corner 352, common with both waveguides and beams 342 and 332. This structure has the advantage of reflecting most of the power in the middle of the beam, where the optical intensity is the highest, and thus better couples the power between the lowest order modes in the two waveguides 346 and 348. The optimal shape of the grating region again depends on the coupling constant of the grating.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, a first electrode 320 is disposed on the same surface of the substrate as the waveguide, over the grating region, and a second electrode 322 is disposed on the same surface around the first electrode. The distance between the two electrodes may be constant as illustrated in FIG. 13, or it may be tapered as illustrated in one dimension in FIG. 12. A voltage control source 324 is connected with two wires 326 to the two electrodes. An electric field can thus be applied through the grating region to activate one of the electro-optic coefficients and change the coupling between the input beam and the output beam.

For purposes of illustration, FIG. 12 also shows a tapered input waveguide segment 287 and a tapered output segment 289. An input beam 285 expands adiabatically through the tapered segment 287 to increase the intersection area and thereby increase the total reflection from grating 310. The grating is capable of reflecting the now-expanded beam 285 toward the output beam 308. If desired, the output waveguide may also contain a tapered segment 289 to reduce the width of the output beam. (Alternatively, the output beam may be kept wide if desired for later beam switching interactions.)

The grating may extend beyond the intersection region of the two waveguides. A grating extended along the input waveguide enables residual transmitted light after the intersection region to be removed from the waveguide, typically into radiation modes. The extended grating minimizes crosstalk between optical channels in switching arrays, in which an individual waveguide may have more than one signal channel propagating along its length.

Specifically contemplated by the invention is a means for tuning the grating. Several embodiments in which tuning is achieved are shown in FIGS. 14-17. Referring to FIG. 14, there is a bulk optical device 400 in which the strength and center wavelength of a normal incidence reflection grating are controlled by a single voltage source 426. This device consists of a patterned poled grating region 410, which is electro-optically activated by two electrodes 420 and 422 on opposing surfaces of the material and connected to 426 by conductors 424. The strength and the center frequency of the grating are tuned simultaneously by applying a single voltage between the two electrodes of the device. The average refractive index of the grating changes with the applied electric field, causing a change in the center wavelength of the grating that is proportional to the electric field. The average index is calculated over a single period of the grating in a periodic grating, by summing the weighted index changes in the various types of domains. The weighting factor is the physical length 416 and 418 of each domain type, along the optical path of the input beam 404. The condition for frequency tuning is that the weighted sum must not equal zero so that the average index changes as a result of the electric field.

The product of the index of refraction and the physical distance traversed by an optical beam is known as the optical distance. (The index of refraction is replaced by the effective index of refraction for waveguide devices.) A 50% duty cycle is obtained in a grating with two types of domain if the average optical distance across the two types of domains is substantially equal (approximately equal within the error range determined by the needs of the application). The average is taken over many subsequent domains to allow for the possibility of a chirped, nonperiodic, or other more general type of grating. In general the domains may have different indices of refraction as well as different clectro-optic coefficients. The general condition for tuning is expressed in terms of the physical distance travelled in the different types of domains. For each domain, the total optical phase advance is given by the optical distance travelled (times 2π/λ). However, the change in the phase advance is given by the product of the applied electric field, the appropriate electro-optic coefficient, and the physical distance (times 2π/λ). The average change in index of refraction experienced by the wave is equal to sum of the changes in phase advance in all domains traversed by the optical wave within a section of the material of length l (times λ/2πl). This change in average index determines the change in the peak interaction wavelength according to δλ/λ=δn/n. The grating strength is changed simultaneously with the wavelength in this structure, but such simultaneous change may be undesirable. The structure may be designed so that the operating point about which tuning is accomplished maintains a sufficiently high grating strength for the application across the entire wavelength tuning range. Or, a separate tuning structure may be used as is described below in reference to FIGS. 16 and 17.

The change in the average refractive index can be achieved by many different means. One alternative is that of randomly non-electro-optically active domains 414 alternating with electro-optically active domains 412. The electro-optically active regions are poled domains, while the non-electro-optically active domains may be randomly poled or unpoled or radiation-disabled. Thus, the electric field causes an average increase in the index Δn_(avg) across the grating. In the poled-random configuration of FIG. 14, Δn_(avg) is equal to the product of the index change in the active domains 412 times the duty cycle. The duty cycle is equal to the length 418 divided by the sum of the lengths 418 and 416. The tunability that can be achieved using this technique is λΔn_(avg) /n in a poled-random structure, where λ is the optical wavelength, and n is the original (effective) index of the material. Assuming a wavelength of 1.55 μm and a 10 V/μm electric field in lithium niobate, the tuning range for a 50% duty cycle structure is 1.1 nm. When the input beam 404 is within the bandwidth of the grating, the grating couples the beam into a retroreflecting output beam 402; otherwise the input beam forms a transmitted output beam 406. Contrast this behavior with that of a 50% duty cycle grating where the two domain types have the same electro-optic coefficients but opposite polarity, as in the case of domain inversion. In this latter case, there is no change in the average index of refraction since the change in index of the first domain type cancels with the change in index of the other domain type. A 50% duty cycle domain reversal grating does not tune its center frequency.

An alternate means to achieve an average effective index change in domain reversed gratings is to use a non-50% duty cycle for the poled domain area with unequal lengths 416≠418. The tunability that can be obtained using this technique is (2D-1)δnλ/n, where D is the duty cycle of the largest domain type (D>0.5). For example, with a 75% duty cycle, a wavelength λ of 1.55 μm, and a 10 V/μm electric field in lithium niobate, the tuning range is 0.54 nm. The domain reversed grating is also stronger than a grating in which the second domain type is not electro-optically active.

In FIG. 15, a waveguide device 440 using the same average index effect is shown. In this case, the average effective index of the waveguide 442 in the grating region 450 changes with the applied electric field, causing a change in the center wavelength of the grating. A voltage control source 466 is used to apply an electric field between a first electrode 460 and second electrode 462, which are preferably placed on the same surface of the material. The average effective index can be achieved by a variety of geometries, including non-electro-optically active domains or a domain reversal grating with a non-50% duty cycle. When the input beam 445 is within the bandwidth of the grating, the grating couples the beam into a retroreflecting output beam 444; otherwise the input beam forms a transmitted output beam 446.

A means to enhance the tunability of a grating in a waveguide device 480 is to overlay a second electro-optic material 482 on the waveguide to form a cladding, as shown in FIG. 16. The cladding should be transparent to the wave propagating in the waveguide and it should be electric field-sensitive to enable adjustable modification of its index of refraction. The average effective index is determined partly by the index of refraction of the cladding. The second material may have a higher electro-optic coefficient than the substrate. Liquid crystals and polymers are good examples of materials which can be used as cladding. The index of the cladding is preferably close to that of the guiding region so that a large portion of the guided beam propagates in the cladding. For this embodiment, a first electrode 502 is surrounded by a second electrode 504 on the substrate, for applying an electric field across the poled grating 490. Preferably, the electrodes are placed below the cladding, directly on the substrate. If the first electrode 502 is positioned directly above the waveguide 484 as shown in FIG. 16, it must be made of an optically transparent material. The electrodes may also be disposed to either side of the waveguide 484, in which case they need not be transparent. A third electrode 506 is positioned on top of the cladding, above the waveguide and the first electrode. For this embodiment, the center wavelength and strength of the grating are separately controllable. The grating strength is controlled by a first voltage source 510, connected by two wires 513,514 to the first and second electrodes, while the center wavelength of the grating is controlled by a second voltage source 512, connected between the first and third electrodes with two wires 514 and 515. In an alternate electrode configuration, only two electrodes are used, both of which are preferably positioned on top of the cladding material so that their induced field penetrates both the cladding material above the grating, and the grating structure itself. A single voltage source then controls both the center wavelength and the grating strength, but not independently.

The amount of tunability that can be achieved with an electro-optically active cladding depends on what portion of the guided beam propagates in the cladding. If the two indices are relatively close so that 10% of the beam propagates in the cladding, then the average change in the effective index of the guided mode is equal to 10% of the change in index of the cladding. For a cladding index change of 0.1, the tunability is on the order of 7 nm.

FIG. 17 shows an embodiment of a discretely tunable grating device 520, which consists of several individually controllable gratings 530, 532, 534. The gratings in series, with all gratings in the path of the input beam 522, and forward 526 and reflected 524 beams. Each individual grating in the structure may also be continuously tunable over a small range. Each grating in FIG. 17 has a first electrode 542 and a second electrode 544, which are connected to a voltage controlling network 552 with wires. The gratings can be switched on one at a time, so that only one wavelength in a small passband will be reflected at a time, or multiple gratings can be switched on simultaneously to create a programmable optical filter, with a center wavelength and bandwidth which are separately controlled. The gratings themselves may be implemented with the variations described above, including the possibility of multiple periods in each grating.

The structure can be realized either in the bulk or as a waveguide device. In the latter case, an optical waveguide 528 is fabricated on the substrate so that the waveguide intersects the poled gratings. The poled domains 536 may extend only through the waveguide and do not necessarily extend all the way through the material. Both electrodes are preferably (for higher field strength) deposited on the same face of the substrate as the waveguide. The second electrodes of all the gratings may be connected as shown to minimize the number of electrical connections.

Alternately, the individually-addressable grating structure can be a bulk device, in which case the waveguide 528 is omitted, and the poled regions 530, 532 and 534 are optimally fabricated with sufficient depth to overlap with the propagating optical mode. The two electrodes for controlling each grating are then optimally positioned on opposing faces of the material to optimize the field penetration, as shown for example in FIG. 2 for a single grating. Cross excitation between adjacent gratings caused by fringing of the electric fields between the electrodes can be minimized by separating the grating-electrode groups by an amount comparable to the substrate thickness, or by adding interspersed fixed-potential electrodes.

An alternate means for tuning the grating is to vary the temperature of the active material. The tuning occurs because of two effects: thermal expansion and the thermo-optic effect. For different materials, either one of these two effects may dominate thermally induced tuning. In lithium niobate, the larger effect is thermal expansion, for which the largest (a-axis) expansion coefficient δL/L is +14 ×10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹., while the thermo-optic coefficient for the ordinary axis δn_(o) /n is +5.6×10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹. For a temperature range of 100° C., the combination of these two effects gives a total wavelength tuning range of 2.6 nm.

For many purposes, it is desirable to create poled gratings with a generalized frequency content. Multiple interaction peaks may be desired for example, or simply a broadened bandwidth of interaction. To accomplish this end, some way is needed to determine the pattern of poled region boundaries which corresponds to a given mathematical function containing the desired frequencies. FIG. 18 illustrates the results of the process in the case of a single frequency containing arbitrary phase shifts. Referring now to FIG. 18, optical phase shifts 564 and 565 can be incorporated at one or more positions along a sinusoidal function 560 to modify its wavelength structure. The mean level of the function is given by the straight line 561. Also shown is the corresponding squared wave function 562 with identical phase shifts, as can be achieved by a typical poling process. To achieve the translation of the continuous function into the square wave function, the regions 570 where the curve 560 exceed the average 561 sine wave corresponds to one type of domain, while the regions 572 where the curve 560 falls below 561 corresponds to a second type of domain. The Fourier transform of the square wave curve 562 will have the same frequency components as the transform of the sinusoidal function 560 in the low frequency range below the harmonics of the sine wave frequency. This approach works for any type of generalized frequency distribution as long as the bandwidth does not exceed a small friction of the carrier frequency.

A phase shifted grating may be implemented in any of the devices described herein such as in FIG. 2 for example, where the location of the domain walls 34 in the grating 22 can be determined by the pattern 562 of FIG. 18 rather than a periodic function. The phase shifted pattern can be controlled with a poling mask incorporating the desired pattern.

Arbitrary multiple period gratings can be specified using a similar technique. Each period present in the grating is represented in a Fourier series (or integral) by a corresponding sine wave of the desired amplitude. All waves are added together to form a resultant wave. The positive portion of the resultant wave corresponds to one type of domain, while the negative portion corresponds to the second type of domain. The number of superimposed gratings can in principle be scaled up to any number, limited in practice by the minimum attainable feature size.

FIG. 19 shows an alternate way of fabricating a superimposed multiple-period grating device 580. A two grating waveguide structure is depicted, with a switchable single period poled grating 582, and a permanent relief grating 584 interacting with a single beam in a waveguide. A coating 588 is shown deposited on top of the relief grating to reduce the loss which occurs when the evanescent tail of the guided wave mode overlaps with the metallic electrode. This coating is an important design optimization element for all of the elements described herein, and should be applied between each electrode structure and adjacent optical waveguides. A coating is also useful above the electrodes in all of the elements described herein to reduce the probability of breakdown.

The electrically controllable gratings in the superperiod structure are switched by a single pair of electrodes 602 and 604, connected by wires 606 to a voltage control source 608. The first electrode 602 is preferably centered over the waveguide, while the second electrode 604 runs parallel to the first, on either side of the waveguide. The device depicted is a waveguide device, with a waveguide 586 confining the input beam 590, as well as the transmitted output beam 592 and the reflected output beam 594.

The multiple period grating structure can be configured in many ways. For example multiple independent peaks in the frequency spectrum can be useful as a multiple frequency feedback mirror. Two operations (e.g., phasematching and reflection) can be achieved in a single grating which incorporates the proper two periods for enabling the processes. As a final example, the grating can be fabricated with the phase and amplitude of its components adjusted for equal effect on the two polarization modes, making a polarization insensitive component.

Another useful modification of a periodic structure is a chirped period. Along the length of the grating structure, the period can be gradually increased or decreased, so that the center wavelength varies from one end of the grating to the other. Thus, the wavelength bandwidth of the grating is broadened over that of a constant period grating. The chirping across the grating is not necessarily linear: many different wavelength reflection profiles in frequency space (e.g., square wave, Lorentzian) can be achieved, depending on the variation in the chirp rate. As described above, the duty cycle and/or the strength of the exciting electric field can also be spatially adjusted to modify the strength of different portions of the chirped grating. The duty cycle of the grating can be controlled by the mask as desired. The electric field strength can be controlled by adjusting the separation of the electrodes as shown for instance in FIG. 6.

A wide spectrum tunable device can be realized in a structure containing two separate gratings which have a multiple peak structure, as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22. FIG. 20 demonstrates the basic principle of these devices and depicts the multipeak comb transmission (or reflection) profiles 620 and 622 as a function of the optical frequency for two such gratings. The first grating profile 620 has transmission peaks separated by a first period 626, while the second grating profile 622 has peaks separated by a second period 624 that is slightly different from the first. The key idea is for the device to operate only at a frequency determined by the overlap of peaks from both curves (frequency ν₁). Tuning is achieved by tuning the comb of transmission peaks of the gratings with respect to each other. Different transmission peaks in the two combs will overlap each other in various ranges of the relative frequency shift, so that the net transmission of the combined gratings jumps discretely over a much wider wavelength range than can be achieved with only thermal or electro-optic tuning. In the example of FIG. 20 where the peak separations differ by 10%, if the frequency of the first grating is increased by 10% of the frequency separation 626, the next higher frequency peaks will superimpose, resulting in an effective frequency shift ten times larger than the tuning amount.

In FIG. 21, a guided wave embodiment of the device is shown, in which two gratings 650 and 652 are placed over a single waveguide 642. An input beam 644 is partially reflected into beam 643 and transmitted as beam 645. A first electrode 666 and second electrode 668 are positioned around the first grating 650 so that a first voltage source 662 connected to the electrodes activates that grating. A third electrode 664 is positioned, along with the second electrode, around the second grating 652. The second grating is controlled by a second voltage source 660 connected to the second and third electrodes. In the preferred embodiment, each grating is a multiple peak structure as described in FIG. 20, and the device forms a frequency-hop-tuned reflector. According to the curves of FIG. 20, the gratings are configured as broadband reflectors, reflecting essentially all the incident radiation frequencies except a comb of equally spaced frequencies where the transmission is high. The cascaded gratings will therefore reflect all frequencies in the frequency range illustrated in FIG. 20, except where the two transmission peaks overlap at ν₁. Provided that the reflections of the two gratings are arranged to add in phase in the reflected beam 643, the transmitted spectrum will be essentially equal to the product of the two transmission curves 620 and 622. When the center frequency of one of the gratings is tuned, the single transmission peak at ν₁ will hop to the next adjacent peak, and then the next and so on. Such a structure is particularly useful as an electrically tuned receiver in, for example, a wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) communication system. The receiver can be configured to detect only incoming light in a specific band, while being insensitive to light at other frequencies.

As seen above, a grating structure can be shifted by about 0.5 nm, assuming a 10 V/μm field in a domain inverted grating with duty cycle of 75%. This continuous tuning range can be used to produce discontinuous tuning in the structure 640 across perhaps 100 bands in a 50 nm range, if the width of the individual frequency peaks 628 are narrower than about 1/100th of the frequency separation.

Note that if the frequency of the input light is known to lie only within the transmission bands of curve 620 in FIG. 20, for example, the device can be realized with only a single grating structure with the transmission spectrum of curve 622, using essentially the Moire effect. By tuning the center frequency of the spectrum 622, any one of the desired bands can be selected while reflecting the rest. The tee structure of FIG. 7 is then particularly interesting in this context: the input beam 112 containing multiple frequency components is then split by the grating structure 100 (configured for tuning as described herein) into a single transmitted beam 116 which can be detected or otherwise processed, and a reflected beam 114 which contains all the other frequency components. The power contained in beam 114 is not lost, but can be routed to other nodes in a communications network, for example.

Other variations can be formed of this basic structure, wherein, for example, the spectra of FIG. 20 are the reflection curves of the individual gratings instead of the transmission curves. In this case, the structure acts as an etalon when the frequencies of the reflection peaks align with each other, with reflectivity according to the relative phase of the reflected waves. Otherwise, the net reflection of the compound structure is essentially the sum of the reflection curves of the two individual structures.

It may be important to optimize the relative phase of the two reflections by adjusting the optical path length 653 between the two gratings. The relative phase can be controlled by using an electro-optic structure (as shown for example in FIG. 22) between the two grating entrances 654 and 655 to adjust the optical path length 653. For a lithium niobate crystal and an input wavelength of 1.5 μm, an activated distance between the gratings of at least 250 μm is required to adjust the relative phase between the two beam of up to ±π, (using a z-axis applied field of 10 V/μm). The strength of one of the gratings (but not its frequency) may optionally be controlled via a field applied at its electrode if the grating is not designed for tuning (its average index of refraction is configured to be independent of the applied voltage). If both gratings are tuned together, narrow range continuous tuning results. As an alternative or supplement to electronic excitation, the phase of the two reflections and the peak wavelengths of the gratings can all be varied together through thermal or mechanical control of the chip.

FIG. 22 shows schematically two grating reflectors 633 and 634 separated by a phase shifter section 635 and forming an integrated etalon 630 having a characteristic free spectral range (FSR). (The structure 630 is essentially the same as that of FIG. 21, with the addition of the phase shifter section, which consists of electrodes capable of actuating a region of electro-optic material traversed by the waveguide 636.) For simplicity, we consider the case of uniform single-period gratings, but the individual gratings may generally be more complex structures. The gratings may be fixed or electronically actuatable. The reflections off the two gratings can be made to add in phase for a beam at a reference frequency by adjusting the voltage applied to the phase shifter section 635. A beam at a second frequency will also add in phase if the frequencies of the two beams are separated by a multiple of the FSR. Since the FSR is inversely proportional to the optical path length between the two gratings, choice of the path length determines the density of the reflection peak structure of the etalon device. As an example, two short high reflecting gratings separated by 220 μm in lithium niobate can have grating reflection peaks separated by a multiple of 1 nm. The multiple peak structures 620 or 622 described in FIG. 20 can each be implemented as an integrated etalon.

A dual grating wye junction embodiment is shown in FIG. 23, in which the two gratings 690 and 692 extend across two separate waveguides 682 and 684. In general a wye junction has an input and multiple output waveguides which may lie in a plane or in a volume. The two waveguides are connected to the first waveguide 686 with a wye junction 688. The power in the optical input beam 691 is split between the second waveguide 682 and third waveguide 684 so that approximately 50% of the input beam 691 is incident on each of the gratings. The two gratings may have a simple reflection structure, or they may have a series of high reflection peaks. The gratings may be permanent, or they may be electronically adjustable, in which case electrodes 694 and 696 are provided for exciting the gratings. A common electrode 698 is then provided across the wafer (or alternately on the same surface as the waveguides, adjacent to the other electrodes similarly to FIG. 21).

The relative optical path length of the two branches of the waveguide can be adjusted by the electrode 689 which is disposed on one waveguide over a region of electro-optic activity. By adjusting the voltage on the phase adjusting electrode 689, the two reverse-propagating reflected beams may be adjusted to have the same phase when they meet at the wye junction. The reflected modes superpose and form a wave front profile which may have a phase discontinuity in the center, depending on the relative phase of the two waves. As the combined wave propagated, the spatial concentration of the optical mode in the region of the guide is strongly affected by the phase shift. If they have the same phase, the profile forms a symmetric mode which couples efficiently into the lowest order mode of the input waveguide to form the retroreflected output beam 693. Two reflected beams which add out-of-phase at the wye junction will have very low coupling into any symmetric mode (such as the lowest order mode) of waveguide 686. If the waveguide 686 is single mode, this reflected energy will be rejected from the waveguide. Thus, by adjusting the optical path length of one of the arms of the wye with the electrode 689, the reflection can be rapidly adjusted from almost 100% to a value very close to zero. Furthermore, if the gratings are implemented as electronically tunable reflectors in one of the tunable configurations described herein, the modulated reflection property can be shifted into different regions of the spectrum.

Referring to FIG. 24, there is shown a switchable waveguide mode converter 720 using a poled grating 722. The waveguide 730 preferably supports both an input mode and an output mode, which may be two transverse modes or two modes of polarization (e.g. TE and TM). The two modes in the waveguide typically have different propagation constants, which are determined by the effective indices of the modes. The grating 722 is excited electrically by electrodes 740 and 742, coupled to the source of electrical potential 744 by the connections 746. The grating period δ (724) is chosen so that the magnitude of the difference of the propagation constants in the two waveguides is equal to the grating constant 2πn/Λ. When the grating is on, the grating makes up the difference in the propagation constants of the two waveguides so that coupling between the two modes is phasematched. The grating strength and the device interaction length in the grating should be set to optimize the flow of power from the input mode into the output mode. The net rate of power conversion from one mode into the other is determined by the strength of the electro-optic coefficient (r₅₁ in lithium niobate) and by the strength of the electric field.

For two transverse modes, the coupling depends on the spatial overlap of the two modes in the presence of the grating structure, and on the strength of the grating. The two modes may be orthogonal by symmetry, so that even if the modes are phasematched, there will be no conversion in a symmetric structure. In this case, the phasematching structure itself can be made asymmetric to eliminate the problem. In the preferred embodiment of FIG. 24, the asymmetry can be introduced via the electric fields which excite the poled structure. The vertical component of the electric field reverses sign midway between the two electrodes 740 and 742. It is best to center the electrodes on the waveguide to optimize mode conversion between transverse modes of different symmetry. The reverse is true when coupling transverse modes of the same symmetry: now the phasematching structure should be made symmetric to optimize the conversion. Several alternative approaches can also be used. A three electrode structure has a symmetric vertical component of the electric field and an asymmetric horizontal field. The horizontal field can be used in conjunction with one of the horizontally-coupled electro-optic coefficients to couple modes of different symmetry. Or, the poled structure may have a phase reversal plane that essentially bisects the waveguide, in which case a symmetric component of the electric field can be used to couple modes of different symmetry (vertical field in the case of three electrodes, horizontal field in the case of two).

Since the propagation constants of the two modes are strongly dependent on wavelength, the beat length of their interaction also depends on the wavelength. Thus, for a given length of the coupling region between the two modes, the power coupled into the second mode is frequency-sensitive. The coupling has a frequency bandwidth associated with it. For a given grating strength, a portion of the in-band input beam is coupled into the output mode which exits as the coupled output beam, while the remainder of the input beam exits the first waveguide as the transmitted output beam.

The structure shown in FIG. 24 can also be used to couple between TE and TM polarized modes. The electro-optic coefficient r₅₁ enables coupling between the two orthogonal polarizations in a lithium niobate crystal, for example. As before, the period of the grating is chosen so that the grating constant is equal to the difference in propagation constants between the two modes. The interaction length is chosen to optimize the power transfer.

A waveguide, such as a titanium-indiffused waveguide which supports both TE and TM modes, is used in applications where both polarizations can enter or leave the converter. A waveguide such as a proton exchanged waveguide which supports only one polarization (TM in z-cut lithium niobate substrates or TE in x- or y-cut) can be useful in applications where only a single polarization is desired. Such a one-polarization waveguide can act as a very effective filter for the other polarization. The wrong polarization component will rapidly disperse away from the waveguide due to diffraction, leaving only the guided polarization in the waveguide. For example, the proton exchanged output waveguide 731 may act to guide only the input polarization or only the output polarization, as desired. This device can be used as an optical modulator with excellent transmission and extinction if the grating coupling is strong, and the interaction length and electric field are selected correctly. A modulator configured with a proton exchanged waveguide will transmit essentially all of the correctly polarized input light, and produce very low transmission of light which is coupled into the perpendicular polarized mode. Alternately, the input waveguide may be titanium-indiffused to accept either polarization at the input. The index profiles that form the waveguides for the two beams are preferably similar so that the profiles of the TE and TM modes overlap well, and the coupling efficiency is maximized.

To activate the r₅₁ coefficient, an electric field is applied along the Y or the X axis of the crystal. The electrode configuration that will achieve the appropriate field direction depends on the cut of the crystal. For a z-cut crystal with a waveguide oriented along the x axis, the first electrode and second electrode can be placed on either side of the waveguide. Alternately, for a y-cut crystal with a waveguide oriented along the x axis, the first electrode can be placed directly over the waveguide, with the second electrode on either side of the waveguide, parallel to the first electrode.

Since the poled domains in the grating 722 can be made to extend through a bulk substrate (such as 0.5 mm thick or more), the structure of FIG. 24 is also useful for a controllable bulk polarization converter. In this case the waveguide 730 is unnecessary, and the electrodes are optimally configured on either side of a thin bulk slab of poled material.

Referring to FIG. 25, there is shown a switched beam director 700 incorporating a wye power splitter 702 and a transverse mode converter 704. The mode converter works in a similar way to the transverse mode converter described above in relation to FIG. 24. The grating structure 706 phase matches energy conversion from the lowest order (symmetric) mode incident in waveguide 708 into the next higher order (antisymmetric) mode of the waveguide. The length and strength of the interaction region where the waveguide and the grating structure overlap are chosen to convert approximately half of the input single symmetric mode power into a higher order antisymmetric mode. Furthermore, the optical path length between the grating mode converter section 704 and the wye splitter 702 is chosen so that the phase of the two modes adds constructively at one of the branches 712 of the wye and destructively at the other branch 713. The result is that the power is routed primarily into the waveguide 712 with the constructive interference, with very little power leakage into the other waveguide 713. In this condition, any reverse propagating power in the guide 713 is essentially excluded from coupling into a reverse propagating mode in the guide 708 after the mode coupler 704. The device forms an efficient power router in the forward direction and an isolating structure in the reverse direction.

By adjusting the optical path length between the grating mode converter section 704 and the wye splitter 702, it is possible to switch the output power from guide 712 to guide 713. This is done by adjusting the relative optical path length for the lowest order mode and the higher order mode so that the two modes slip phase by π relative to each other, now producing constructive interference in the guide 713 and destructive interference in the guide 712. The relative path length adjustment can be achieved in the path length adjustment section 705 by exciting the electrode pair 711 and 709 with the voltage source 714, changing the index of refraction under the electrode 711 via the electro-optic effect in the substrate 703, which is preferably lithium niobate (but may be any electro-optic material with transparency for the waves such as lithium tantalate, KTP, GaAs, InP, AgGaS₂, crystalline quartz, etc.). The propagation distance of the waveguide 708 under the electrode 711 is selected, along with the excitation voltage, to enable changing the relative phase of the two modes by at least the desired amount.

The grating 706 may be a permanent grating fabricated by any of the techniques known in the art. However, to optimize the functioning of the device, it is desirable to have almost exactly equal power in the symmetric and the antisymmetric modes. It is difficult to achieve sufficient control in existing fabrication techniques to achieve this goal, and it is therefore desirable to have some adjustment in the grating strength. This adjustability can be achieved with the use of at least some poled grating sections, excited by the electrodes 709 and 710, which are driven by the power supply 715, and which can be used by themselves to accomplish the desired mode conversion, or to adjust the strength of a combined poled-permanent grating.

The input waveguide 708 is best implemented as a single mode waveguide incorporating a (preferably adiabatic) taper 701 to permit guiding of the two modes between the transverse mode coupler 704 and the wye splitter 702. The waveguides 712 and 713 are both preferably single mode. While any order modes may be used in the device as long as their symmetry is opposite, it is most desirable for interconnection purposes to work with the lowest order mode at the input and output legs. The intermediate excited mode is less critical, and could be, for instance, a higher order antisymmetric mode.

FIG. 26 shows a parallel waveguide switchable resonator 750 in which an input waveguide 752 is coupled to a parallel waveguide 754 along an interaction region 753. Grating reflectors 755 and 756 are disposed across the waveguide 754 in such a way as to retroreflect light propagating in the guide. The pair of separated reflectors and the waveguide 754 form an integrated etalon coupled to the input waveguide 752. The length of the coupling region 753 and the separation of the parallel waveguides in the coupling region are chosen so that a certain desired fraction T of the input beam 757 is coupled into the waveguide 754. The light coupled into the etalon structure 754, 755, and 756 resonates between the reflectors 755 and 756, and couples out into two principal output channels: the forward propagating wave 759 and the reverse propagating wave 758 in waveguide 752. The same fraction T of the power circulating in the etalon couples into each of the two output channels 758 and 759.

As for any etalon, the integrated etalon has a frequency acceptance structure comprised of multiple peaks in frequency space with width dependent on the loss of the resonator, and separation equal to the free spectral range. If the optical frequency of the input beam 757 matches one of these resonant frequencies, the power circulating in the etalon will build up to a value P_(circ) determined by P_(circ) =P_(inc) T/(T+Γ/2)² where P_(inc) is the incident power 757 in the waveguide 752, Γ is the loss of the etalon not including the output coupling into the forward propagating wave 759 and the reverse propagating wave 758 in waveguide 752, and we have assumed weak coupling and low loss. The output coupled wave from the etalon which propagates in the reverse direction in waveguide 752 forms the reflected wave 758. The reflected power in beam 758 is equal to P_(ref) =P_(inc) /(1+Γ/2T)² on the peak of the resonance. When T>>Γ/2, essentially all of the incident power is reflected. The output coupled wave from the etalon which propagates in the forward direction in waveguide 752 is out of phase (on a cavity resonance) with the uncoupled portion of the input wave 757, and the two beams destructively interfere, producing a low amplitude output beam 759. Because the two beams have unequal amplitude, the residual power P_(trans) =P_(inc) /(1+2T/Γ)² in the output beam 759 is not quite zero, but it can be very close. If the coupling T is made very large compared to the loss Γ of the etalon, the transmission of the device is greatly suppressed (by 26 dB if T=10Γ). This structure then acts as a very low loss reflector at a comb of frequencies separated by the FSR.

The device can be switched by changing the optical path length between the two reflectors 755 and 756. Electrodes 761 and 762 are disposed to produce an electric field through the waveguide 754 between the mirrors 755 and 756. The electrodes are excited with a voltage source 763, changing the effective index of the substrate under the electrode 761 via the electro-optic effect, thereby changing the optical path length between the mirrors and shifting the resonances of the integrated etalon. If the resonances are shifted by more than either the width of the resonances or the frequency bandwidth of the incident beam, the reflection will drop to zero, and the transmission will rise to essentially 100% as the circulating power within the etalon is suppressed to approximately P_(inc) T/4.

The gratings 755 and 756 may be permanent gratings, or they may be poled gratings excited by electrodes as shown in previous diagrams and discussed above. If the grating 756 is a poled grating, the device may also be switched by switching it off. With grating 756 off, i.e. not reflecting, the loss to the incident wave 757 is equal to the coupling constant T, but now the comb structure is eliminated instead of just being frequency shifted as by the electrode 761. The difference in switching function between these two modes of operation may be significant with for example a broadband input signal where it is necessary to switch off the reflection rather than just change its frequency. For a single frequency input beam, the reflection can be switched equally well by changing the path length with electrode 761 or by spoiling the Q of the resonator by switching off the mirror 756. However, if the reflectivity of the mirror 756 is retained and only the frequency spectrum of the etalon is shifted with the electrode 761, other frequency components of a broadband input wave would be reflected, and this might be highly undesirable in some applications.

The power P_(circ) which builds up in the etalon can be quite large if T and Γ are small, and can be useful in applications such as second harmonic generation, for example. In this application, a quasi-phasematched (QPM) periodic poled structure in a section of the lithium niobate substrate is incorporated into the resonator between, say, the mirror 756 and the interaction region 753, or possibly within the interaction region itself. One of the resonant frequencies of the etalon is then tuned to coincide with the phasematching frequency for the QPM frequency doubler. The power buildup which occurs enhances the frequency conversion efficiency of the device as the square of the buildup factor P_(circ) /P_(inc). The high reflection which occurs at this frequency can also be used to injection lock the pump laser to the desired frequency if the FSR is large enough that the other resonant modes are not injection locked simultaneously. The linear integrated etalon geometry described above in reference to FIGS. 21 and 22 can also be used to accomplish the same purposes.

To optimize the power building up in the etalon between the reflectors 755 and 756, the losses in the resonator must be minimized. The coupling of FIG. 26 cannot be "impedance matched", in analogy to the process known in the art of bulk buildup cavities, where the input coupling into the resonator is adjusted to cancel by destructive interference the portion of the incident beam which is not coupled into the cavity. This is the condition of the etalon transmission interference peak. As described above, what happens in the integrated structure is that the transmitted beam can be nearly cancelled while the power builds up in the coupled resonator, but a strong reflected wave emerges. The reflected wave may be eliminated in a ring waveguide structure, as is illustrated in FIGS. 27 and 28.

An output 751 proportional to the power circulating within the etalon may be taken through the grating 756, if desired, or alternately through the grating 755.

In FIG. 27, a three-arm etalon 760 is shown with an input waveguide 752, a parallel waveguide coupling region 753, a ring resonator formed by three waveguide segments 764, 765, and 766, three grating reflectors 767, 768, and 769. The optical path length adjustment section formed between the electrodes 761 and 762 is optional. The grating reflector 767 is disposed to optimally reflect the power arriving from waveguide 764 into the waveguide 765. In a single mode system, the spatial configuration of the grating (and its electrodes if any) is designed to couple from the lowest order mode of waveguide 764 into the lowest order mode of 765. The gratings 768 and 769 are similarly configured to optimize the power flow from waveguide 765 into waveguide 766, and then into waveguide 764 again, forming a Fabry-Perot resonator with a determinate optical path length, FSR, optical loss coefficient, and coupling T with the input waveguide 752. Now, impedance matching is possible, and is accomplished when the coupling coefficient T equals the total round-trip loss coefficient of the resonator less the output coupling loss, principally in the coupling region 753. If a phase matched frequency doubler is disposed within the resonator, the converted power out of the fundamental frequency beam circulating in the resonator does count as one of the losses in the total round-trip loss.

If an input beam 757 is incident on the device with a frequency equal to one of the resonances of the three-arm etalon, power will couple across the parallel waveguide interaction region into the etalon and build up to a circulating power of P_(circ) =P_(inc) T/(T+Γ)². Because of the ring structure, the power will circulate primarily in one direction, from waveguide 764 to waveguides 765, 766, and back to 764. There is now only a single output coupled wave from the etalon onto the waveguide 752, and it propagates in the forward direction. The output coupled wave interferes destructively with the remainder of the input wave 757, forming a weak transmitted wave 759. The transmitted power P_(trans) in the output beam 759 is given by P_(trans) =P_(inc) (1-Γ/T)² /(1+Γ/T)², and can be brought to zero if Γ=T, which is the impedance matched condition. In this case, all the incident power flows into the resonator. In the impedance matched condition, the two beams have equal amplitude, and the transmitted power drops to zero. There is essentially no reflected power in beam 758 except for reflections from discontinuities in the waveguide 752, which can be minimized by good design. The grating 767 or any of the other gratings may be configured as a switchable grating, in which case the quality Q of the etalon may be spoiled by turning off the grating, eliminating the comb structure entirely but leaving some optical loss due to power coupled into the waveguide 764. An output beam 751 may be taken in transmission through the grating 768, and/or through the gratings 767 or 769.

FIG. 28 shows a ring waveguide etalon 770. As before, the input waveguide 752 is coupled to a waveguide 772 in a parallel interaction region 753. The interaction region 753 includes a grating in FIG. 28 (although it is not required) to emphasize that grating coupling is a useful option in the etalon geometry of FIGS. 26, 27, and 28. The waveguide 772 follows a curved closed path (with any geometry including potentially multiple loops with crossings), feeding a portion of the power emerging from section 753 back into the interaction region 753. As before, electrodes 761 and 773 are supplied to allow the optical path length, and hence the FSR to be adjusted, although in this case they are shown disposed on the same face of the substrate. A straight section 771 is provided where certain critical functional components may be fabricated, according to the application of the etalon structure. If the etalon device 770 is used for frequency doubling, it would be advantageous to insert the frequency doubling structure into a straight section such as 771 of the ring, but provision must be made to couple the frequency converted light out of the ring waveguide.

The functioning of the device 770 is otherwise similar to that of the device 760. While the device 760 may consume less surface area on a substrate, the device 770 may have lower optical loss in the etalon, particularly if the diameter is one cm or larger.

The devices 760 and 770 can function as buildup cavities for frequency doubling in which the feedback into the optical source is minimal. They can also switch the transmission of a given frequency without retroreflection, which is useful in applications including optical communications.

In WDM communications, many communications channels separated by their optical wavelength may be carried on the same optical fiber. To detect a channel, the light in the desired wavelength region must first be separated from the remaining channels which are routed to other destinations. This separation function is performed by a channel dropping filter. A channel dropping filter is a communications device which is used in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) environment. It is desired to multiplex several channels across a single transmission fiber by carrying the channels on different wavelengths. A critical component in such a system is a channel dropping filter which allows the extraction of a single channel for routing or detection purposes. The ideal filter will extract essentially all of the light in a channel with good extinction ratio, so that the same wavelength may be used later in the network without undesirable crosstalk. It must have very low insertion losses for the out-of-band components because multiple channel dropping filters may be installed on any given line. Preferably, it should be switchable so that a channel may be dropped at a destination location, and after the communication is finished, the channel may continue past that location to another destination. The inverse of the channel dropping filter is the channel adding filter which adds a channel to a fiber without significantly affecting the power propagating in the other channels. Transmission and reflection filters have been analyzed in detail [HL91, KHO87]. Several of the above structures may be used for channel dropping filters, including the devices described in reference to FIGS. 7, 10, 26, 27 and 28.

The grating coupled waveguide tee of FIG. 7 is a channel dropping filter with low loss for the out-of-band components. With prior art gratings, this configuration has difficulty with crosstalk, since achieving 99.9% outcoupling for the in-band component requires a very long grating. The coupling strength of our periodic poled gratings is significantly increased over the prior art, due to the ability to use higher order gratings with sharp interfaces which extend entirely across the waveguide. Whereas the prior art is limited to shallow waveguides to optimize the overlap between the necessarily shallow grating and the waveguide, we are able to use the lower loss waveguide configuration with essentially equal depth and width because our grating structure extends entirely across the depth of the waveguide. This structure can also be used as a channel adding filter.

The device of FIG. 10, if the grating is configured as described in Haus et al. "Narrow band optical channel dropping filters" J. Lightwave Technol. 10, 57-62 (1992), is also a channel dropping filter. Our contribution in this case is only the poled grating coupling technique, which enables strong coupling between the waveguides in a short distance, and which relieves fabrication difficulties in permitting efficient higher order gratings to be produced.

The devices 750, 760 and 770 can be used as channel dropping filters by tuning a resonance of the etalon to the frequency of the channel to be extracted from the input waveguide 752. If the integrated etalon is nearly impedance matched, essentially all the power at the resonant frequency is transferred into the etalon. In the ring geometries of FIGS. 27 and 28, the transmitted and reflected powers in the waveguide 752 can be reduced to any desired level, minimizing crosstalk. The light corresponding to the desired channel is completely extracted (dropped) from the input waveguide, leaving neither reflections or transmissions. In the linear geometry of FIG. 26, some light is lost to reflection, which does not significantly reduce the detection efficiency, but which may cause crosstalk problems in a communications network. The signal carried by the light can be detected by placing a detector over a waveguide segment of the etalon and coupled to the light in the waveguide. Or, the detector can be coupled to one of the output waveguides such as 754 in FIG. 26, 764, 765, or 766 in FIG. 27, and 794 in FIG. 28. In the case of the device 760, the outcoupling can be accomplished by adjusting the reflection of one of the resonator grating reflectors 767, 768 or 769 so that a small portion of the circulating power is coupled out into the continuation segments of the waveguides as shown for output beam 751. Those continuation waveguide segments may also be connected to ports of other devices, which may be either discrete devices or integrated on the same substrate. In the case of the device 770, a parallel waveguide output coupler (with or without grating) may be placed in the straight section 771 of the ring. Although only a fraction of the circulating power may be outcoupled at these ports, the total outcoupled power may be very close to 100% of the channel power entering the waveguide 752 due to the buildup which occurs in the etalon. Output coupling is shown with an adjacent waveguide 794, producing the output beam 751.

The ring geometries excel in terms of extinction ratio (which is high when the light separation efficiency is high) and low crosstalk because they can be adjusted to have almost total transfer of power into the etalon. All of the etalon devices can be designed with very low insertion loss for the out-of-band beams. All of the devices of FIGS. 26-28 are switchable by means of the phase shifting electrodes 761, and 762 (and 763 in FIG. 28).

As described before, the optical path length may be adjusted using electrode 761 to shift the frequency of the integrated etalon resonances. The desired channel may be selected this way directly. Or, multiple channels may be selected by this technique using the approach described above in reference to FIGS. 20, 21, and 22; if the FSR of the etalon is selected to be slightly different from the channel separation, the Moire effect is used to select widely spaced channels with a minimum of continuous tuning. (A good choice is to make the FSR equal to the channel spacing plus a few times the frequency width obtained when convolving the channel bandwidth with the etalon resonance bandwidth).

As a variation on the structures 750, 760, and 770, the coupling region 753 may be implemented as a grating-assisted coupler as described above in reference to FIG. 10. This has the advantage, in the poled-grating implementation, that the coupling fraction T can be adjusted. Particularly for the ring resonator designs 760 and 770, an adjustable coupling is useful to achieve impedance matching. As a further variation, the electrodes may be implemented on the same face of the substrate, as described above to obtain lower voltage excitation.

The structures of FIGS. 27 and 28 may also be used as efficient channel adding filters if the signal to be added to the output beam 759 is brought in on the waveguide 766, for example, or if it is coupled into the straight section 771 via the waveguide 794. These input interactions will preferably be impedance matched.

Referring now to FIG. 29A, there is shown a waveguide modulator/attenuator 800 using a poled segment 806. The function of the poled segment 806 is to (switchably) collect the light emitted from an input waveguide segment 802 and launch it into an output waveguide segment 804 when switched on. In this device, an input light beam 820 is coupled into the input waveguide 802. A poled segment 806 is positioned between the input segment and the output waveguide segment 804. The input and output waveguide segments are preferably permanent waveguides which may be fabricated by any of the standard techniques including indiffusion and ion exchange. The segment 806 is preferably a reverse poled region within a uniformly poled substrate so that there is essentially no difference in index of refraction and hence no waveguiding effect when the electric field is off. The segment 806 is a waveguide segment as shown in FIG. 29A. (It may alternatively be configured in several geometrically different ways such as a positive lens structure, a negative lens structure, or a compound structure for relaying light between many such elements: see FIG. 29B.) The segment 806 is turned on by applying an electric field through the segment. The electric field changes the index of refraction of the poled segment and surrounding regions. Because the segment 806 is poled differently (preferably reverse poled) from the substrate material, the index of the segment can be raised relative to the surrounding material by applying the correct field polarity, forming a waveguide. The index inside the boundary of the waveguide may be increased, or the index at and outside the boundary may be depressed. When the poled segment is on, a continuous waveguide is formed, joining the input and output segments. This is achieved by butting the waveguides together, aligning them to the same axis, and adjusting the width of the poled segment so that its transverse mode profile optimally matches the mode profile of the input and output waveguides 802 and 804.

With the poled segment off, the input beam is not confined in the poled region, so that the beam expands substantially by diffraction before it gets to the output waveguide segment. If the separation of the input and output waveguide segments is much greater than the Rayleigh range of the unguided beam, so that the beam expands to a dimension much larger than that of the output waveguide, only a small portion of the input beam will be coupled into the output waveguide segment to form the output beam 822. By adjusting the length of the segment 806 relative to the Rayleigh range, the amount of power transmitted in the off condition can be reduced to the desired degree.

The location of the ends of the poled segment 806 are adjusted relative to the locations of the ends of the input and output waveguides to minimize the loss caused by the discontinuity. Because the permanent waveguides have a diffuse boundary, the poled waveguide has a discrete boundary, and the index change in the switched segment adds to the pre-existing index, it is desirable to leave a small gap on the order of half the diffusion length between the lithographically defined boundary of the waveguides 802 and 804, and the ends of the poled segment 806. To further reduce the reflection and other loss at the junction between waveguides 802 and 806, it is also advantageous to taper the onset of the index change in the segment 806 by either making the exciting electrode 810 slightly shorter than the segment 806 or by tapering the electrode width near its end, in both cases taking advantage of the reduction of the electric field by the fringing effect.

One distinguishing aspect of this configuration is that the reflected power can be minimized in both the on and the off conditions. With the switch off, the reflection is dominated by the residual reflection at the end 803 of the waveguide 802. This reflection may be minimized by tapering the reduction of the index difference along the length of the waveguide. The reflection from the end 805 of the waveguide 804 is suppressed by the square of the "off" transmission. In the "on" condition, the reflection is minimized by also tapering the index difference of the structure 806 along the direction of propagation, creating a smooth boundary rather than a sharp interface.

The boundaries of the excited poled region confine the beam laterally when they are activated because of the increase in the index of refraction within the boundaries. If the depth of the poled region equals the depth of the waveguides 802 and 804, the beam is also confined in the vertical direction by the poled segment boundaries. However, it is difficult to control the depth of the poling in a z-cut lithium niobate wafer. It is easiest to pole a deep domain, and take one of several alternative measures to obtain confinement in the vertical dimension. The preferred approach is to arrange the electrodes so that the amplitude of the electric field falls off in the vertical dimension. This is achieved by the same-side electrode configuration shown in FIG. 29A, but not with electrodes placed on opposite sides of the substrate. The penetration depth of the electric fields can be reduced by narrowing the gap between the two electrodes and by reducing the width of the overall electrode structure.

In addition or as an alternative, a weak permanent waveguide can be fabricated in the volume between the input and output waveguides, which is insufficient to convey much energy by itself, but which in combination with the index elevation produced in the poled segment 806 can optimally confine the light in two dimensions to convey essentially all the light into the output waveguide 804. This can be done, for example, by adjusting the permanent index change (relative to the substrate) within the segment to about 0.6 of the index change in the waveguides 802 and 804. If the "on" index change in the segment 806 is adjusted to about 0.5 of the same value, the combined index change is sufficient to achieve reasonable guiding while the permanent index change is insufficient. In the "on" condition, the mode is confined in both transverse dimensions even though the switched index change produced in the poled region may be considerably deeper than the desired waveguide dimension: the effective depth of the "on" waveguide is mainly determined by the permanent index change. The weak waveguide may be fabricated in a second masking step, or it may be fabricated in the same masking step with a narrower mask segment defining the weaker waveguide segment.

As a related alternative, the region between the input and output waveguides may be a planar waveguide, in which case the propagating mode can at minimum diffract in one dimension. Switching on a poled section will in this case add the needed transverse confinement despite having a deeper index change than the planar waveguide. Since in both cases the confinement of the waveguide in the two dimensions is achieved by two independent techniques, switchable waveguides of essentially any aspect ratio (the ratio of the waveguide width to depth) can be formed. Both the planar and channel waveguides can be fabricated by the same technique, which is preferably the annealed proton exchange process. Separate proton exchange steps may be used to define the planar guide and channel waveguide. The waveguide fabrication process is completed by annealing, during which the index changes are diffused down to the desired depth, and the optical activity of the material is restored. Preferably, the two sets of guides are annealed for the same length of time, although one set can be made deeper by partially annealing before the second proton exchange step is performed.

An important alternative is to use a full, uniform permanent waveguide traversing the poled segment 806, and to use the electrically excited segment to turn off the guiding. In this case, the polarity of the field is chosen to depress the index in the poled region, and the depth of the poled region can be very large (in fact this has some advantage in terms of mode dispersal). This type of switched waveguide is normally on (i.e. transmitting), and requires the application of an electric field to switch it off. There are advantages to both normally-on and normally-off switch configurations in terms of their behavior during a power failure, so it is important that this invention is capable of providing both modes. To switch the waveguiding off in the segment 806, an index change is desired which is approximately equal and opposite to the index change induced in the permanent waveguide. The effect of the variation with depth of the electric field on the "off" state is quite small because it is sufficient to suppress the majority of the waveguide in order to strongly disperse the light. Confinement can be achieved in both dimensions without the need of a planar waveguide, by a finite-depth poling technique. Several poling techniques (such as for example titanium-indiffusion in lithium niobate and lithium tantalate and ion exchange in KTP), produce poling to a finite depth, which can potentially be optimized to form a poled channel waveguide with a particular depth. These techniques, however, produce an index change along with the poling, forming somewhat of a permanent waveguide depending on the processing parameters. Depending on the strength of this index change, the poled waveguide segment may be fabricated in either the "normally on" or the "normally off" configuration.

Preferably, the electric field is created in the poled region by applying a voltage across two electrodes, which are laid out on the same face of the crystal as the polled waveguide segment. A first electrode 810 is laid out over the poled region, while the second electrode 812 is placed in proximity to one or more sides of the first electrode. For a z-cut crystal, this configuration activates the d₃₃ electro-optic coefficient of the substrate. A voltage source 816 is electrically connected via two wires 814 to the electrodes to provide the driving voltage for the device. This device can be used as a digital or nonlinear analog modulator. A full-on voltage is defined to be the voltage at which the loss across the poled region is the lowest. The off voltage is defined as that voltage which reduces the coupling to the output waveguide segment to the desired extent. By continuously varying the voltage between the on and the off voltages, the device can be used as either an analog modulator or a variable attenuator.

In an alternative structure, the structure 806 forms a switched curved waveguide, which again aligns with the input 802 and output 804 waveguides. The mode of such a structure is called a "whispering gallery" mode in the extreme case where the curvature is small and the mode confinement on the inside edge becomes independent of the inside waveguide edge. For larger curvatures, the mode is a modified whispering gallery mode where some confinement is provided by the inside edge of the waveguide. The poled structure provides an advantage in addition to the switchability, namely that the sharp index of refraction transition on its outside wall greatly improves the confinement of the modified whispering gallery mode which propagates in the curved waveguide. The input and output waveguides need not be coaxial or parallel in this case, potentially increasing the forward isolation in the switched-off condition. If the input and output waveguides are arranged along axes at an angle to each other, the structure 806 may be a curved waveguide segment with a single radius of curvature or a tapered radius of curvature, used to optimally couple power between them when the curved waveguide structure 806 is turned on. FIG. 29B shows an alternative structure 801 which is a switched lens modulator/attenuator in which the prismatic structure of segment 806 is modified into a lenslike structure in which the product of the local optical path length and the local (signed) index change is reduced quadratically with transverse distance away from the axis of the guides 802 and 804. The lenslike structure is placed such that it concentrates or refocuses the beam 821 emerging from the end 803 of the input waveguide 802 into the end 805 of the output waveguide 804. The optical wave is allowed to diffract away from the end 803, and passes through the lenslike structure 807. Note that in this structure, multiple elements may be placed adjacent each other, increasing the net focusing effect. The index of refraction within the regions 807 is increased to obtain a focusing effect. If the surrounding region is poled in a reverse direction to the regions 807, or if the electro-optic coefficient of the surrounding region is otherwise opposite to that of the regions 807, the spaces between the lenses also act as focusing regions. (The negative lens shape formed by the regions between the lenses 807, excited to a lower index value, acts as a converging lens structure.) The electrode 810 is placed over the structure 806 with electrodes 812 being placed outside the structure but adjacent the electrode 810 with a gap as desired. When the electrodes are not actuated, the beam continues to diverge, and very little power is refocused into the waveguide end 805. When the switch is on, the beam is refocused, and a fraction of the power continues through the guide 804. Vertical confinement is needed for efficient power collection in the on state, while it is undesirable in the off state. Vertical confinement may be provided as needed by, for example, providing a uniform planar waveguide 835 across the entire surface on which the structures are patterned. Vertical confinement may also be provided by the lenslike structure 806 if it is poled deep into the substrate, and the electric field reduction as a function of depth is tailored to collect and refocus the energy back to the waveguide end 805. The structure of FIG. 29B may of course also be used in other contexts which may not have one or both waveguides 802 and 804.

Referring to FIG. 30, there is shown a poled total internal reflecting (TIR) optical energy redirector 830 using a poled waveguide segment. This figure illustrates both a poled TIR reflector for high switched reflection combined with a poled waveguide segment for low insertion loss. An input waveguide 832 extends entirely across the device. A poled region 836 extends across the waveguide at an angle 848, forming a TIR interface for the beam propagating in the guide when the poled region is electro-optically activated. A portion of the poled region also forms a poled waveguide segment 837 that is connected to an output waveguide segment 834. The poled waveguide segment and the output waveguide segment are both laid out at twice the angle 848 with respect to the input waveguide. A voltage source 846 provides the electrical activation for the switch, and is connected to it through two wires 844.

The poled region 836 is defined by six vertical faces according to the diagram, with one face traversing the waveguide 832 at a shallow angle 848 equal to the TIR angle and less than the critical angle for total internal reflection for a desired electrode excitation. This face is the TIR reflecting interface. The next three consecutive vertical faces of the poled region enclose a projection outside of the waveguide 832. The projection is a switchable waveguide segment. The placement of the next two vertical faces is not critical, and may follow the waveguide boundaries and cross it at 90°.

The domains (836 and the region of the substrate outside 836) are characterized by a quiescent index of refraction distribution, which is the spatial distribution of the index in the absence of applied electric field. When an exciting electric field distribution is applied through the domains, they will have an excited index of refraction distribution which is different from the respective quiescent distribution. The excited distribution will also have a range according to the accessible range of the applied electric field. The advantage of juxtaposing two domain types near one another is that the electric response may be opposite in the two domains, producing a transition with double the change in index across the region of juxtaposition. In the case of index or refraction changes, the transition forms a reflection boundary with larger reflection than would be attained with a single domain type.

When the switch is on, an input beam 851 that is coupled into the waveguide reflects off the TIR interface, propagates down the poled waveguide segment, and passes into the output waveguide segment 834 to form a deflected output beam 854. When the switch is off, the input beam propagates through the poled interface and continues through the input waveguide to form an undeflected output beam 852. Because the index change at the TIR interface is low, the reflection in the off state is very low. Because the permanent waveguide segment 834 is separated by several mode exponential decay lengths from the guide 832, the power lost due to scatter as the beam passes by the switching region is also extremely low. An "off" switch is essentially invisible to the waveguide, producing extremely low loss in the input guide. The additional loss of the switched region in the off state compared to an equal length of unperturbed waveguide is called the insertion loss. Low insertion loss is especially desirable when the input waveguide is a bus with many poled switches.

The angle θ (848) of the poled interface with respect to the input waveguide must be less than the maximum or critical TIR angle θ_(c), as derived from Snell's law: ##EQU3## where θ=TIR angle (between the waveguide and the poling interface),

n=index of refraction of waveguiding region, and

Δn=electro-optic change in index on each side of poling boundary

Since the index change occurs on each side of the poling boundary with opposite sign, the effective index change is 2Δn. This expression assumes slowly varying (adiabatic) changes in the index away from the boundary. Due to the doubling in the effective index change, the maximum switching angle that can be achieved with a poled TIR switch is increased by √2 over the prior art switches with a pair of electrodes and no poled interface. This is a very significant increase since it increases the maximum packing density of switch arrays which can be achieved using a TIR switch.

The critical angle θ_(c) depends on the polarization of the input beam because the index change Δn depends on the polarization. In z-cut lithium niobate, for example, with a vertical field E₃, the TM wave is sensitive to the change in the extraordinary index of refraction through the r₃₃ and the TE wave to the change in the ordinary index through r₁₃. Since r₃₃ >>r₁₃, it is far easier to switch TM waves. Use of annealed proton exchanged waveguides is very convenient because they guide only waves polarized in the z-direction. In x-cut y-propagating (or y-cut x-propagating) lithium niobate, on the other hand, the TE wave has the higher change in index. Note that in this case, the electrode configuration must be changed to produce a field component in the z direction in the plane of the substrate, instead of in the vertical direction.

The design angle for actual TIR switches must be chosen after optimizing several factors. The mode to be switched includes two angular distributions (in the waveguide fabrication plane and out of the plane) which can be different if the widths of the waveguide in the two planes are different. The angular content δφ of the mode in a given plane covers approximately δφ=±λ/πw_(o) where w_(o) is the 1/e² mode waist in that plane. We wish most of the light to be reflected at the TIR interface, so the angle of incidence must be less than the critical angle θ_(c) by approximately the angular content δφ in the plane of the switched waveguides. The angular content δφ is inversely related to the waist size, but so is the packing density which we wish to optimize. The angular content of the mode in the direction out of the plane of the waveguides also must be taken into account because it also contributes to the effective incidence angle, although in a geometrically more complex way.

An alternative way of producing a TIR switch is with a strain field instead of or in addition to the electric field. The strain field is most conveniently implemented in a permanent fashion; the electric field is most useful for producing changes in the reflection. An oriented strain field applied at a domain boundary produces different changes in the index of refraction, via the photoelastic effect, in the two domains, resulting in an index of refraction interface. As mentioned above in reference to FIG. 2, the strain field may be produced by heating the sample to a high temperature, depositing a film with a different coefficient of thermal expansion, and cooling to room temperature. A pattern applied to the film by etching away regions such as strips will produce a strain field about the gap in the film. This strain field can then be used to actuate an index of refraction difference at domain boundaries. If the applied film is a dielectric an electric field may be applied through it to the poled regions provided that the deposition of electrodes does not undesirably change the strain field. The film is preferably a film with low optical absorption so that it can be contacted directly to the substrate instead of being spaced by a buffer layer.

The poled region includes a portion of the input waveguide and has an interface normal to the propagation axis of the waveguide. The portion of the input waveguide that contains the TIR interface crossing defines the length of the switch: ##EQU4## where θ is previously defined, L=length of the switch measured along the input waveguide, and

W=width of the waveguide

Thus, in order to minimize the size of the switch, the width of the waveguide must be made as small as possible. For space-critical applications, it is preferable that the waveguide segments be single mode. As a numerical example, if the width of the single-mode waveguide is 4 μm, the maximum index change Δn is 0.0015, and the index of refraction is 2.16, then the TIR angle θ is 3° and the length of the switch L is 76 μm.

The poled waveguide segment forms an angle with respect to the input guide equal to 2θ, which is the deflection angle of the TIR interface. In order to efficiently modematch the beam reflecting off the TIR interface into the poled waveguide segment, the poled segment should have nearly the same transverse mode profile as the input waveguide. Efficient mode matching can be achieved by selecting the proper combination of width and index difference of the poled waveguide. The poled waveguide segment intersects the input waveguide along the latter half of the side of the waveguide occupied by the switch interface. The exact dimensions and placement of the waveguide are determined to optimally match the near field mode profile emerging from the total internal reflection process to the mode of the waveguide in terms of direction of propagation and transverse profile. The same is true of the match between the poled waveguide segment and the permanent waveguide segment 834, similarly to what was described above in reference to FIG. 29A.

The permanent waveguide segment is essentially a continuation of the poled waveguide segment. The length of the poled segment depends on optimizing losses in the input waveguide and the switched waveguide. In order to avoid scattering interaction between the undeflected beam in the input waveguide when the switch is off, the permanent waveguide segment must be separated by some distance (at least an optical wavelength) from the input guide. For a bus waveguide with many switches, the loss in the input guide must be reduced to a value related to the inverse of the number of switches. The modal profile of a beam in the input guide extends a certain distance beyond the indiffused edge of the guide, where it decays exponentially. If the permanent segment is separated from the input guide by several of these exponential decay constants, the loss can be reduced to an acceptable level for a bus waveguide.

The length of the poled segment affects the loss in the reflected beam as well. The poled waveguide segment may have higher losses per unit length than an indiffused waveguide, due to higher wall roughness. In addition, there are the above mentioned mode conversion losses at each end of the waveguide, which are minimized by optimally matching the mode profiles. If the poled segment is short (on the order of the Rayleigh range of the beam), the transmitting beam does not substantially convert into the mode of the poled segment, thus reducing the coupling losses. The optimal length of the poled segment depends on the relative loss that is tolerable in beams in the input waveguide and the switched waveguide.

As in the case of the waveguide segment modulator/attenuator shown in FIG. 29A, there is a need for vertical confinement of the mode in the switched waveguide segment 837. The same options described there can be implemented here. Shown in FIG. 30 is a planar waveguide 835 which confines the beam in a plane parallel to the surface of the substrate. Since the planar waveguide is uniform, its presence does not affect the loss of the waveguide switch junction in its off state. In place of the planar waveguide, or in some combination, the other alternatives may also be implemented, including tailoring the depth of the electric fields to obtain vertical confinement, using short depth poling, using a partial waveguide which is augmented by the field induced index change, and using a full permanent waveguide which is turned off by a field activated poled region. The latter two alternatives have the disadvantage that the loss to the beam through waveguide 832 is higher due to the adjacent index discontinuities.

Horizontal confinement is also an issue in optimizing the switching region. If high switched efficiency is desired, it is preferable to have a large TIR reflection angle. The left half of the input wave 851 reflects first off the interface 838, forming the right half of the reflected wave. However, after reflection, the right half of the reflected wave is unconfined in the transverse dimension until it arrives into the waveguide segment 837. During its unconfined passage, it will expand by diffraction, reducing the fraction of the beam power which couples into the output waveguide 834. This effect degrades the efficiency of the switch in its on position. However, the mean unguided distance is limited to approximately the waveguide width divided by four times the sine of the angle 848. The right half of the input wave remains confined after it passes the waveguide segment 837 until its reflection off the interface 838 because of the permanent index change due to the right hand side of the waveguide 832. It then matches well into the output waveguide 834. Both portions of the input beam 851 suffer an undesired reflection from the side of the waveguide 832 after reflecting from the TIR surface 838. Since this surface is at the same angle to the axis of propagation of the beam as the surface 838 was, but with only a fraction of the index difference, there only be a partial, not a total, reflection from this surface which also adds to the loss of the switch.

The electrode design is a critical aspect of this switch, in order to optimize the efficiency of the reflector and minimize the loss of the waveguide. Preferably, two electrodes are used to activate the switch. A first electrode 840 is placed over the TIR interface 838, while a second electrode 842 is placed alongside the first electrode, adjacent to that interface. The main parameters for optimization are the separation of the two electrodes and the distance between the edge of the first electrode and the poling boundary, which may or may not overlap. The spacing between the two electrodes influences the voltage required to activate the device, as well as the width of the electric field pattern which penetrates the substrate and produces the index change profile. Electrodes that are spaced further apart require higher voltages, but create an electric field that extends deeper into the substrate than closely spaced electrodes.

The electric field penetration depth is critical to obtaining a large net reflection. Because the fields get weaker the farther they are away from the electrodes, the induced index change at the poling boundary also drops with depth, as does the TIR angle. At a certain depth called the effective depth, the index change becomes insufficient to maintain total reflection for the central ray of the optical beam at the angle of the switch structure. Since the reflection drops rapidly with index change at values below the minimum TIR value, the TIR mirror essentially stops functioning at this depth. For high net reflection into the guides 837 and 834, the device design should be adjusted to create an effective depth below the majority of the field profile in the guide 832.

The second important operating parameter influenced by the electrode design is the penetration of the evanescent fields of the reflecting wave beyond the TIR interface 838. Although no power may be transmitted beyond the TIR interface in the "on" condition, the electromagnetic fields penetrate the TIR surface by a distance on the order of a wavelength. There will also be spatial dependence of the applied electric field beyond the TIR surface, the field strength being reduced (and in fact inverted) in regions closer to the other electrode 842. The index change is therefore reduced beyond the TIR interface. Care must be taken that the evanescent fields decay to a negligible value before substantial variation in the field occurs, or power will leak through the TIR interface. Optimally, the first electrode will overlap the poling interface by a distance chosen for maximum index change and for sufficient constancy of field beyond the interface 838.

The first electrode also extends across the poled waveguide segment 836, and possibly into adjacent areas. The shapes of the two electrodes exciting this region 836 are determined by optimizing the power flow through the waveguide segment and into the permanent waveguide 834. Other electrode structures can be used to modify the strength of the electric field in the poled region. If, for example, the second electrode is extended around the first to form a U shape, the electric field under the first electrode is increased on the average, but it forms somewhat of a two-lobed waveguide, which may not provide an ideal index profile.

The TIR switch is an optical energy router and can also be used as a modulator. If the voltage source is continuously variable, then the modulator is analog, with a nonlinear relationship between voltage and reflectivity. As the applied voltage is increased, the depth of the total reflecting interface is increased, producing a continuously adjustable reflection out of the wave 851 into the wave 854. The modulator can be used in reflection or transmission mode, depending on whether the transmission should go to zero or 100% when the voltage is removed. For special nonlinear applications, the nonlinearity of the reflection and transmission coefficients as a function of voltage, such as where the receiver is logarithmically sensitive to the level of the signal, might be useful.

FIG. 31 shows a TIR switch with two TIR reflectors. If it is desired to increase the angle between the output waveguide 834 and the input waveguide 832, a second TIR interface 839 may be added. The angle between the input waveguide 832 and the output waveguide 834 is doubled relative to that of FIG. 30, and may be doubled again and again by adding additional TIR interfaces. The interface 839 is created at an angle 849 relative to the interface 838 equal to twice the angle 848. (Subsequent TIR interfaces, if any are added, should be added at the same angle 838 relative to the previous TIR interface.) The switched waveguide portion 837 of FIG. 30 is no longer required since the dual TIR mirror structure brings the light so far away from the input waveguide 832 that the permanent waveguide 834 may be butted directly against the end of the poled region 836 without contributing significant loss to the waveguide 832. Again, vertical confinement is provided in the poled segment 836. The poled segment 836 and the output waveguide 834 are configured and aligned so that the field profile propagating in the chain of TIR and waveguide segments optimally matches the local lowest order mode field profile of the input waveguide 832. After the TIR reflectors, the deflected beam is matched into a permanent waveguide 834 to form the output beam 854 when the switch is on.

The shape of the inside boundary of the poled region outside the input waveguide 832 is defined by the reflection of the input waveguide through the TIR mirrors, one after the other. This definition of the inside boundary achieves optimum guiding of the inside edge of the waveguide mode while it is reflecting from the two TIR mirrors.

FIG. 32 shows a TIR switched beam director with a poled TIR switch 831 with an electrically switched waveguide segment. In this structure, the region 836 is reverse poled, lies behind the interface 838, and is excited as before by a pair of electrodes 840 and 842, which are activated by voltage source 846 and connected via conductors 844. The polarity of the excitation is again selected to produce a negative index change coming from the direction of the input beam 851. When the switch is on, the beam is reflected off the TIR interface 838 towards the permanent waveguide 834, but unlike in FIG. 30, there is no poled waveguide segment joining them. Instead, the electrode 842 is extended over the intermediate region between the input waveguide and the output waveguide 834. A coupling waveguide segment may be formed by applying an electric field to a region between a lateral boundary of the segment of the input waveguide 832 containing the TIR reflection boundary and an input boundary of the output waveguide 834. The three dimensional distribution of the electric fields is determined, as always, by the shape of the electrodes and Maxwell's equations. The electric fields produced by that electrode produce a positive index change through the electro-optic effect, providing the desired switched waveguiding section. As described elsewhere, this waveguide segment is also configured and aligned to optimize the coupling of the input mode 851 into the output mode 854. As an alternative in this and any of the TIR switch implementations, the output waveguide may originate at the input waveguide with negligible gap. This alternative has higher insertion loss in the switch off (straight through) configuration, but it has a simpler structure.

Referring to FIG. 33, there is shown a two position waveguide router using a poled segment, which is not based on total internal reflection. The poled region 866 forms an electrically excitable waveguide segment which crosses the input waveguide 862 at a small angle. When the field is applied, the index in the segment 866 is increased, while the index in the adjacent region in the input waveguide is decreased. Thus, the input beam 880 is at least partially coupled into the poled waveguide segment. When the switch is off, the input beam continues to propagate through the input guide to form an unswitched output beam 882. The small angle may be tapered adiabatically, forming a low loss waveguide bend, if it is desired to switch all or most of the input light into the output guide 864 to exit the device as the switched output beam 884.

At least two electrodes are used to apply an electric field across the poled region to activate the waveguide. A first electrode 870 is positioned above the poled waveguide segment, while a second electrode 872 is positioned adjacent to the first electrode. The second electrode 872 is adjacent to the first electrode and may be placed on both sides of the poled waveguide segment, in order to achieve a high power splitting ratio. As before, the electrodes are excited by the power supply 846 through conductors 844, and a planar waveguide 835, or the electric field falloff with depth, or one of the other approaches described herein is used to obtain vertical confinement for the switched propagating modes.

Referring to FIG. 34, several poled TIR switches are placed side by side to form an array 900. The poled regions 912 and 914 forming the TIR interfaces are placed one after the other along the waveguide 910. Each poled region has the same crystal orientation, with the z axis of the crystal in the regions 912 and 914 reversed relative to that of the remainder of the crystal. The other aspects and many variations of this configuration have been described above in reference to FIG. 30.

Each of the switches are individually activated using a multi-output voltage control source 926, which is connected to the electrodes with wires 928. When all switches are off, the input beam 902 propagates down the input waveguide 910 to form an unswitched output beam 904 with negligible loss. If the first switch is on, then the input beam reflects off the first TIR interface to form a first reflected output beam 908 in waveguide 916. If the first switch is off and the second on, the input beam reflects off the second TIR interface to form a second reflected output beam 906 in waveguide 918, and so on for the subsequent switches. This multiple switch structure can be extended to n switches.

An electrode is laid out over each TIR interface as described above. One or more of the electrodes 920, 922, and 924 serve as the cathode for one switch and the anode for another. For example, a voltage is applied between the second electrode 922 and the first and third electrodes 920 and 924 to activate the second switch forming the output beam 906. An electrode 922 that acts as both an anode and a cathode should preferably extend adjacent to the TIR interface of the prior poled segment 912 while also covering the TIR interface of one poled region 914 and one waveguide segment of one poled region 914. Only a portion of the structure is shown, with two complete poled segments 912 and 914 and one complete electrode 922. This structure can be replicated into n switches by aligning duplicate complete electrodes and poled segments.

In order to avoid crosstalk in the channels, the voltage on the electrodes may be applied in such a manner that the input beam does not see any electro-optic index changes until it enters the region of the activated switch. For example, to activate the TIR interface of the second poled region 914, a voltage may be applied between electrodes 922 and 924, keeping the same potential on electrodes 920 and 922 and prior electrodes.

Although the total length of the poled regions is longer than L, the distance occupied along the waveguide by a given region is equal to L by definition. A linear array of TIR switches with a 100% packing density would therefore have new poled regions starting every distance L. This is called 100% packing density because at this density the adjacent regions just barely touch each other at the inside corner of the poled region in the waveguide. Having adjacent regions touch each other is disadvantageous because some of the light guided in the previous poled structure can leak out into the next poled structure where the structures touch.

We have noted above that the corner which touches the preceding poled region is formed by two vertical faces of the poled region whose placement is not critical. By moving these faces so that the width of the poled region is thinned on the side of this inside corner, it can be arranged that the regions no longer touch each other, reducing the leak of optical energy. For example, the inside corner can be moved to the middle of the waveguide by halving the length of the face which traverses the waveguide at 90°. The face which used to parallel the waveguide now parallels the TIR interface, and becomes a critically positioned surface. We call the poled regions with this geometry "dense packed" poled regions. (There are other ways the objective of minimizing the light leak may be accomplished, such as adding a seventh vertical face between the two noncritical faces, but the alternative just described has another advantage in dense packing.) FIG. 35 shows a configuration wherein the linear density of switches is be doubled by using the dense packed geometry for the poled region and reversing the polarity of the adjacent poled regions. The interfaces of the poled regions transverse to the waveguide are now identical but for a translation along the axis of the waveguide. The poled regions will therefore stack solidly along the waveguide, doubling the switch density. In fact, only the reverse poled region is fully spatially defined, since the other region has the same poling direction as the substrate (in the optimal case where the substrate is fully poled). Two regions 952 and 954 of reverse poling are shown in FIG. 35. The TIR interfaces can be thought of as the first face or the input face and the second face or the output face of the poled region where unswitched light travelling in the waveguide 950 potentially enters or leaves, respectively, the unexcited poled region.

The TIR interface for the output beam 946 is formed between the poled substrate and the first (input) face of the reverse poled region 952, and is excited by electrode 966. The TIR interface for the output beam 947 is formed between the second (output) face of the reverse poled region 952 and the poled substrate, and is excited by electrode 967. The TIR interface for the output beam 948 is formed between the poled substrate and the first face of the reverse poled region 954, and is excited by electrode 968. The TIR interface for the output beam 949 is formed between the second face of the reverse poled region 954 and the poled substrate, and is excited by electrode 969. The electrodes extend above the respective TIR interfaces, and along the switched waveguide segments which connect to the permanent output waveguides 956, 957, 958, and 959. Preferably, one or more of the electrodes 966, 967, 968, 969 and 970 serve as the cathode for one switch and the anode for another. Each electrode therefore extends parallel to and along the full length of the TIR interface of the previous switch.

Each of the switches is individually switchable by applying electric fields with voltage source 926 via conductors 928. When all switches are off, the input beam 942 propagates down the bus waveguide 950 to form an unswitched output beam 944. When the first switch is on, the input beam reflects off its respective TIR interface to couple into the first output waveguide segment 956 to form a first reflected output beam 946. For the subsequent switches, the input beam reflects off the respective subsequent TIR interface to couple into a waveguide segment 957, 958, or 959 to form a reflected output beam 947, 948, or 949. The voltage on the electrodes is typically set so that there is no optical interference from adjacent switches: all preceding switches are off. This can be accomplished for example by maintaining all the preceding electrodes at the same potential as the switched electrode. This multiple switch structure can be extended to n switches.

It is desirable to extend the upstream end of the dense packed poled regions significantly beyond the edge of the input waveguide 950, maintaining the angle of the vertical surfaces with respect to the waveguide. This extension captures the full exponential tail of the input waveguide mode, and pushes the remaining noncritically positioned surface of the extended dense packed poled region out of the waveguide 950, thereby diminishing the optical loss. (Upstream and downstream are defined in relation to the direction of propagation of the input beam 942.)

If the switched waveguide segment of the poled regions is designed as described above in reference to FIG. 30, the separation of the output waveguides becomes equal to their width in the highest density packing, so that they merge into a planar waveguide. While a planar output waveguide may be useful for some applications, the output waveguides may be separated using a second poled TIR interface within each switch. The use of two TIR interfaces in a switch has been described in reference to FIG. 31. Note that in the case of FIG. 35, the geometry of the poled region is slightly different to accomplish the stacking. The "output waveguide" section of the extended dense packed poled regions is rotated about the end of the first TIR interface to an angle 3θ relative to the input waveguide 942, maintaining the parallelism of its faces. This "output waveguide" section therefore becomes a second TIR reflector segment.

The width of the second TIR reflector segment is about 50% larger than the input waveguide. The mode propagating in the second TIR reflector segment is unconfined on its inner side for a distance of about 2W/sinθ where W has been defined as the waveguide width. Any diffraction which occurs on this side will result in reduced power coupling into the output waveguides 956-959. It is desirable to keep this distance less than about a Rayleigh range. In the case of a 4 μm wide waveguide operating at a TIR angle of 4.5°, the total unconfined distance is about 100 μm, which is approximately equal to the Rayleigh range for a blue beam. One solution to optimizing the performance of an array of such switches lies in adding a permanent reduction of index of refraction (without degrading the electro-optic coefficient) in a strategic location within the second TIR reflector segment. This strategic location is the zone bounded by the inside wall of the extended dense packed poled region, and by the inside wall of the poled region 836 as defined in reference to FIG. 31. The permanent index of refraction reduction defines a permanent waveguide boundary at the optimal location for confinement of the mode as it is reflecting from the two successive TIR mirrors. The added index reduction tapers to zero as it approaches the input waveguide, and the loss added to the input waveguide can be reduced sufficiently by truncating the index reduction region sufficiently far from the guide. The index reduction also does not interfere with the TIR function of the previous TIR interface (indeed, it helps).

Thus, the switched beam reflects from two consecutive TIR interfaces, doubling the total deflection angle of the switch to 4θ. By doubling the output angle, space is now made available for output waveguides of width equal to the input waveguide, with a separation equal to their width in the densest configuration.

The output waveguides connect to the poled region in FIG. 35 at the final corner of the second TIR reflector, at an angle θ relative to the second TIR interface and optimally aligned to collect the light reflecting off the second TIR interface. Preferably, the two TIR reflectors for a given switch are connected without an intervening waveguiding segment. This minimizes the path length that the deflected beam must travel in the poled waveguide, which may have a higher loss than a permanent channel waveguide due to wall roughness and asymmetry.

In an alternate poling boundary structure, the boundary between two adjacent poled regions may be a curved TIR structure. The mode of such a structure is again a whispering gallery mode, possibly modified by some confinement on the inside boundary of the waveguide. The radius of curvature of the poling boundary is made small enough so the whispering gallery mode matches well with the waveguide mode for large power coupling between the two types of guide, yet large enough for practical total internal reflection to occur for the distribution of angles within the mode.

FIG. 36 shows a dual crossing waveguide structure 980 for higher packing density. This structure incorporates two innovations: an asymmetric loss waveguide cross 997, and 90° mirrors 976 and 977. The density is increased with the addition of a second input waveguide 982 parallel to the first input waveguide 984, on the same surface of the substrate 981, effectively doubling the packing density. The switching elements 983 and 985 have been illustrated schematically as one of the variants of the poled TIR switch described above, but can alternatively be any integrated optic switch described in the literature, so we do not describe the switch in detail here or in the FIG. 36. (The switches may also be implemented in alternate ways described herein such as the grating switches described in reference to FIG. 7, the coupler described in reference to FIG. 10, the splitter described in reference to FIG. 25, and the guiding switch described in reference to FIG. 33.)

A first input beam 992 propagates down the first waveguide, while a second input beam 994 propagates down the second waveguide. The two beams may originate from distinct sources or from the same optical source via an active or passive splitter. When the corresponding switch is off, the input beam 992 and 994 propagate through to form the undeflected output beam 993 and 995, respectively. If the corresponding switch is on, the first input beam 992 is deflected into the output beam 996, while the second input beam 994 is deflected into the output beam 998.

In the asymmetric waveguide cross 997, two waveguides cross each other with the index of refraction profiles adjusted to minimize the loss in one guide at the expense of somewhat higher loss in the other. The crossing guides are laid out at a large angle with respect to each other (herein illustrated at 90°), in order to minimize the crossing loss. Referring to the geometry of FIG. 36, the second deflected beam 998 crosses over the first waveguide 984 (in this case so that the switched output light beams can propagate in parallel output waveguides 986 and 988). The waveguide 988 is broken at the crossing point with the waveguide 984, leaving the gaps 990 and 991. This is done to minimize the loss in the waveguide 984, producing an asymmetric loss structure with higher loss in waveguide 988 than in waveguide 984 in the crossing region. For later convenience, we say that the asymmetric cross "points" along the waveguide with lower loss. The asymmetric cross 997 points along the waveguide 984. If the gaps 990 and 991 are wider than several exponential decay lengths for the mode in the guide 984, the cross structure will provide essentially no additional loss to the waveguide 984. A large number of asymmetric cross structures may then be sequenced pointing along the waveguide 984 to produce a low loss waveguide crossing many others. The gaps 990 and 991 will produce some reflection and scatter to the beam 998 propagating in the broken waveguide 988, and the width of the gap may be minimized subject to the combined constraints of desired low loss in the two waveguides. To minimize the optical loss from the beam 998 propagating in the waveguide 988 it the cross structure, the index profile transverse to the axis of propagation of the guide may be modulated or tapered along the axis of the guide. The goal is to maintain very low loss in the waveguide 984 while minimizing the loss in 988. This purpose is achieved if the index of refraction change in the regions adjacent to the guide 984 is small and slowly varying compared to the index of refraction change of the waveguide 984 itself. (All index of refraction changes referred to are relative to the substrate.)

The loss in the second waveguide has two components: one due to reflection from the index discontinuities, and one due to diffractive spreading. The reflection loss is determined by the magnitude of the index change in the waveguides, and by its taper profile at the ends and sides of the waveguides. For example, if the index change at the core of the waveguides is the same in both at Δn=0.003, the net reflection loss at the four interfaces will be less than 5%, neglecting corrections due to the exact index profiles which can reduce the reflection. The diffractive loss is even lower because the gap width is typically much less that the free space Rayleigh range. If, for example, the narrowest mode dimension is the depth, at 2 μm, then the Rayleigh range is 55 μm, assuming an index in the material of 2.2 and a wavelength of 0.5 μm. The diffractive loss at each gap is less than 1%, assuming a 3 μm wide gap. If the waveguide depth is 4 μm, the diffractive loss is substantially smaller. The diffractive loss may be minimized by increasing the dimensions of the waveguide relative to the gap size.

In general, the "gaps" 990 have an index of refraction distribution adjacent the crossing region. This index of refraction distribution is defined relative to the index of refraction of the substrate. The index of refraction in the gaps may taper from a value equal to the index of refraction distribution of the waveguide 988 to another value adjacent the crossing region. The important part of the crossing region is the volume within which propagates the optical mode of the waveguide 984. To minimize the loss in the waveguide 984, the index of refraction adjacent the crossing region in this important part is much smaller than the index of refraction distribution within the waveguide 984.

The crossed waveguide geometry with asymmetric optical loss may be combined in many geometric variations. For example, three or more input waveguides may be used with multiple crossing points where switched output waveguides traverse input waveguides. The selection of preferred waveguides, preferred in the sense of having its loss minimized at the crossing point, can be also done in many ways. We have discussed an example in which the preferred guides are parallel. However, in a more complex system, there may be preferred guides which cross each other as well as crossing unpreferred guides. The selection of how to accomplish the crossings of the preferred guides depends on the application. The waveguide crossing structures in a device may be any combination of asymmetric loss crossings and symmetric loss crossings where the gap widths are zero.

For switches that deflect the beam at a small angle (such as a TIR switch), additional beam turning means such as 976 and 977 may be provided, in order to achieve the desired large angle of intersection at the waveguide cross. The beam turning means 976 and 977 is preferably a vertical micromirror, and is installed at a fixed position. Each micromirror is formed by removing the substrate material within its volume, leaving a flat vertical surface (preferably with low roughness) adjacent to the waveguide and oriented at such an angle so as to direct the reflected light optimally (town the output waveguide 986 or 988. The micromirrors may be fabricated using conventional processing techniques, including laser ablation with, for example, a high power excimer laser or ion beam etching, both of which might define the mirror geometry with the aid of a mask. The volume may be filled with a low index, low loss material such as aluminum oxide or silica to prevent contamination of the mirror surface, and to maintain the total internal reflection property of the mirror.

The angle of the micromirror relative to an input of one of the waveguides is preferably adjusted to provide total internal reflection. The thickness of the micromirror volume in the direction normal to its reflective surface is preferably much greater than a wavelength of light in order to minimize leakage through the micromirror volume of the evanescent tail of the reflected light wave. The angle relative to the other waveguide is adjusted so that the mean propagation direction of the reflected beam is parallel to the central axis of the other waveguide. The location of the micromirror is adjusted to optimize the coupling of the light from one waveguide to the other. The location of the mirror in the junction region is preferably adjusted so that the "centers of gravity" of the two beam profiles illuminating the mirror surface are at the same place. The length of the mirror transverse of the incident and reflected beams is greater than about twice the width of the waveguide to reflect essentially the entire mode, including the exponentially decreasing intensity in the beam tails. Light input from one of the waveguide modes diffracts through the waveguide junction region to the micromirror, reflects, and diffracts back through the waveguide junction region at the reflected angle before coupling into the output waveguide mode. The junction region between the two waveguides in the vicinity of the mirror is optimally kept small compared to the Rayleigh range of the unconfined beam, which can be accomplished with waveguides having widths in the 2 to 5 micron range.

The structure of FIG. 36 makes possible a large interdigitated array of switched light distribution waveguides. The entire structure 980 may be replicated many times along a pair of input waveguides, producing a set of interleaved output waveguides with a simple pattern of alternating parentage (in this context, parentage means deriving optical power from a specific "parent" input waveguide). Each input waveguide may be connected to a large number of output waveguides as long as the switching elements have a very low insertion loss, as is the case for the elements listed above and described herein. Because of the asymmetric cross structures, adding more input waveguides above the others (with additional switches, micromirrors, asymmetric waveguide crosses, and interleaved output waveguides) does not significantly increase the loss of the lower input waveguides or affect their ability to distribute light over a long distance to many output waveguides. It will increase moderately the optical source power required for each additional input waveguide in order to deliver the same power to the end of their respective output waveguides. As many input waveguides as desired may be used in parallel to distribute a potentially large total power of light. Their output waveguides may be interleaved in many alternative patterns using the approach of FIG. 36. The same result may be achieved using grating reflectors in the place of the TIR switches. If the grating reflectors are oriented at a large angle to the input waveguides, the micromirrors are also no longer needed.

The structure described in the previous paragraph is a one-to-many architecture in that it has one output per switch with a multiplicity of switches per input. There is no way to connect many inputs into the same output. What is needed is a many-to-one architecture. The many-to-many configuration is then obtained by combining the one-to-many and the many-to-one configurations.

FIG. 37 shows an array 1060 of waveguides with TIR switches arranged in a many-to-one configuration. In the structure shown, two Input waveguides 1072 and 1074 switch two input beams 1062 and 1064 into an output beam 1070 in one output waveguide 1076. The input TIR switches 1090 and 1094, and the output switches 1092 and 1096 have been described before in reference to FIGS. 30-32 and 36, so they are shown only schematically, leaving off many elements (such as the electrodes, the contacts, the power supply, the controller, the vertical confinement means, the depth of the poled regions, the type of output waveguide confinement) for clarity. The input TIR switch is arranged with the beam propagating in a forward sense as described in reference to FIG. 36, while the output TIR switch is arranged with the beam propagating in a reverse sense. The switches 1090 and 1092 are switched at substantially the same time, as are switches 1094 and 1096, because both are required to accomplish injection of power into the output waveguide 1076. As described in reference to FIG. 36, when the switches 1090 or 1094 are on, a fraction of the beams 1062 and 1064 are switched, respectively, into the waveguide 1078 or 1084. The remainder of the input beams propagates along the extension of the input waveguide into an output path as beams 1066 or 1068, which may be used in some other component or brought into a beam dump for absorption or scatter out of the system. Micromirrors 1082 and 1088 are provided to reflect the beams from waveguides 1078 and 1084 into the waveguides 1080 or 1086, respectively. In their on condition, TIR switches 1092 or 1096 receive the beams propagating in the waveguides 1080 or 1086, respectively, forming the output beam 1070. If it is desired to switch the beam 1062 into the output beam 1070, clearly the switch 1096 and all subsequent switches must be off. (It would otherwise reflect much of the desired beam out of the waveguide 1076.) A similar constraint applies for all the other switched beams in multiple switch arrays.

The substrate 1098 is processed as described herein to produce the structures illustrated. When the switches 1090 or 1094 are off, the input beam propagates through the switching regions 1090 or 1094 with negligible loss, traverse the waveguide 1076 (in an asymmetric cross if desired), and emerge as output beams 1066 or 1068, respectively, possibly for use as inputs to additional switches.

Additional input waveguides may also be provided, coupling into the waveguide 1076 (or not coupled, as desired), in a modified repetition of this structure in the direction of the output beam 1070. Additional output waveguides may also be provided, coupled if desired to the input waveguides 1072 and/or 1074, in a modified repetition of this structure in the direction of the beams 1066 and 1068.

FIG. 38 shows an array 1210 of grating reflectors in a many-to-many configuration. In the structure shown, two input waveguides 1222 and 1224 switch two input beams 1212 and 1214 into two output beams 1220 and 1221 in two output waveguides 1226 and 1228 which abut or encounter the input waveguides. The grating switches 1230, 1232, 1234, and 1236 containing the gratings 1238, 1240, 1244, and 1246 have been described before in reference to FIGS. 7, 8,12, and 13, so they are shown only schematically, leaving off many elements (such as the electrodes, the contacts, the power supply, the controller, the vertical confinement means, the depth of the poled regions, the tapering of the poled regions or electrode spacing) for clarity. When the switches 1230 or 1232 are on, a fraction of the beam 1212 is switched into the output beams 1220 or 1221, respectively. The remainder of the input beam propagates along a continuation of the input waveguide into an output path as beam 1250, which may be used in some other component or brought into a beam dump for absorption or scatter out of the system. When the switches 1234 or 1236 are on, a fraction of the beam 1214 is switched into the output beams 1220 or 1221, respectively. The remainder of the input beam propagates along a continuation of the input waveguide into an output path as beam 1252, which may be used in some other component or brought into a beam dump for absorption or scatter out of the system. It should be understood that the structures admit to bi-directional propagation.

The substrate 1248 is processed as described herein to produce the structures illustrated. When the switches are off, the input beams propagate through the switching regions (in which the waveguides may be configured as an asymmetric cross if desired), and emerge as output beams 1250 and 1252, respectively, possibly for use as inputs to additional switches. The waveguides may cross each other in simple large-angle junctions as shown, or the junctions may be asymmetric crosses, which do not substantially affect the placement of the gratings 1238, 1240, 1244, and 1246. Note that the gratings may in fact be parts of a single large grating which covers the substrate and which is only activated in the regions of the different switches by the desired electrodes. If the gratings are constructed from poled domains, for example, this allows the entire substrate to be poled for the gratings, which may be simpler in production. Alternatively, the gratings could be arranged in stripes or other groupings.

Additional input waveguides may also be provided, coupling into the waveguides 1226 or 1228 (or not coupled, as desired), in a modified repetition of this structure in the direction of the output beams 1220 and 1221. Additional output waveguides may also be provided, coupled if desired to the input waveguides 1222 and/or 1224, in a modified repetition of this structure in the direction of the beams 1250 and 1252.

FIG. 39A shows schematically an example application of the alternative switch arrays in the n×n communications routing application. In this application, the optical power in n input optical channels is to be routed to n output optical channels with minimal loss and minimal crosstalk. A controller sets up an addressable path between one channel and another. A simple square array is formed by repeating the structure of FIG. 38 until n inputs are arrayed on the left and n outputs are arrayed on the bottom, with switches at all n² of the waveguide intersections. The intersection angle may be any convenient angle. In this structure, the switching of any channel into any other is accomplished by activating one of the switches. The light beams cross each other at the waveguide crosses with a small amount of crosstalk which can be reduced by optimizing the waveguide geometry. This structure is capable of independent one-to-one connections between any input and any output. Note also that the connections are bidirectional so that a communications channel can be used equally well, and in fact simultaneously, in both directions. The switches are shown as implemented with gratings for specificity, but they may be implemented with dual TIR switches as described in reference to FIG. 37 by replicating the structure of FIG. 37 forming the n×n inputs and outputs, or with any other optical switching technique now known or yet to be discovered. Note that in the case of the TIR switches, the optical data path does not pass through the vertex of the intersection between the input and the output waveguide. Instead, it passes through another waveguide near the intersection. According to the specific geometry of the switch, the input and output waveguides may intersect at a large angle as shown in FIGS. 36, 37 and 38, or at an oblique angle. The fixed reflectors 1088 and 1082 in the dual-TIR switching geometry may not be required in the case of the obliquely intersecting waveguides.

In this simple square geometry with n parallel input waveguides, there will be one input waveguide which can be connected into the closest output waveguide with a single switch, forming a best case connection with lowest loss. At the other extreme, there will be one waveguide which must traverse 2(n-1) waveguide crosses to be switched into the farthest output waveguide. This worst case connection will have much higher loss then the best case connection. To reduce the maximum insertion loss of the switch array structure, asymmetric cross junctions may be used as described in reference to FIG. 36. The loss of the worst case connection will be best helped with every waveguide cross it traverses being an asymmetric cross pointing in the direction of propagation of the light along either the input or the output waveguide. This structure is clearly not generalizable to the inner waveguides because use of asymmetric switches in the intermediate junctions will help some switching paths at the expense of others. What is needed is an algorithm for selecting the optimal direction for the asymmetric crosses. A good way to dispose the assymmetric crosses is for roughly half of the crosses to point in each direction. Observe that the n(n-1) crosses on the upper left of the diagonal (but not including the diagonal) are predominantly used to distribute energy to the right. These crosses therefore should point along the direction of the input waveguides, while the crosses on the lower right should point in the direction of the output waveguides. In a bidirectional structure, the crosses on the diagonal should be simple symmetric crosses, herein called the simple diagonal arrangement of the asymmetric crosses. Other arrangements may be used according to different usage patterns, but this is a good general purpose arrangement.

A n×m (where n>m) arrangement will permit full connectivity only between m "input" lines and m "output" lines. Here, "input" and "output" are only used for identification purposes since all lines are bidirectional. The additional n-m "system" lines may be useful for system control in both monitoring and broadcast functions. If line A wishes connection to line B, for example, it would send system requests for that function until answered. Line m+3, for example, might be dedicated to scanning all the "input" lines for system requests. (To provide a similar line to monitor the "output" lines, a larger matrix of lines is required, such as the n×n matrix shown in FIG. 39A where m lines are dedicated to users in a sub group of m×m lines. A line such as line n-2 may then be used to monitor the "output" lines.) In monitoring, the system will turn on successive gratings corresponding to the "input" or "output" lines, and detect whether the line is active. Some power will be switched into the monitor detector by the successively switched-on gratings in line with the monitor detector if any one of the monitored lines is active. An active line will have an activated reflector connecting it to another selected line. However, the activated reflector will leak some power through to form a beam which can be detected by the monitor detector. When the monitor detector connected to line m+3 in this example switches on the switch 1255 (drawn as a grating switch for specificity) and receives the request from line A, the control system will have to check whether line B is busy. When the connection is made to line n-2 through switch 1253, the residual beam which leaks past the line B connection switch will alert the system that line B is active. If no activity is sensed, a system request can be sent to both lines A and B (possibly through the same monitor line if it has multiplexed send/receive capability, or possibly through a separate system line), and the switch 1254 can be closed to establish the connection.

The broadcast function is not feasible from lines within the basic m×m switching block which is used for one-to-one connections, because even partially turning on the required row of switches corresponding to all the outputs from a given input would interfere with some of the already established and potentially active communications connections between other channels. Broadcast is best accomplished from the system lines which are "outside" of the m×m switching block illustrated in FIG. 39A. (The "inside corner" of the geometry is the best case waveguide connection with the lowest loss, between lines 1 on the "input" side and line 1 on the "output" side.) Line C is shown to be actively connected to most or all of the "output" lines in FIG. 39A by means of gratings 1256 as an example of broadcast. The switches 1256 on line C must be only partially turned on so that sufficient power is delivered to each "output" line. A similar protocol may be used to prevent collisions between channels in the case of broadcast as in the case of simple communications connection. Broadcast connections would only be set up with inactive channels, and the system can group channels together and/or wait for individual channels to permit broadcast to them.

To increase switching efficiency, the waveguides may be large multimode waveguides, which in the case of a single mode communications network will be connected to the single mode input and output ports 1 through m with adiabatic expanders described elsewhere herein.

The entire structure described above in reference to FIG. 39A is useful as an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch, or in any point-to-point switched communications application. One useful variation of the structure is for multiple wavelength operation in a WDM network. Wavelength selective optical switches can be implemented as described herein by using poled grating switches, or by using tunable fixed gratings which tune into and out of a specified communications band. In a WDM network, the desire is to switch a specific wavelength between channels without affecting other wavelengths which may be travelling (bidirectionally) in the same channel. With a tunable switch which can select a frequency of reflection while essentially transmitting the other set of frequencies in the WDM spectrum, the simple geometry of FIG. 39A is appropriate. However, if a switched grating is used which has a single frequency of operation, separate connection paths are necessary for each wavelength.

FIG. 39B shows a switched WDM communications network 1260 with separate paths for each frequency used in the network. This example is for a two frequency WDM network, but may be generalized to any number of frequencies of communication. Three "input" waveguides 1276 are shown in FIG. 39B connected to three ports 1a, 2a, and 3a, and three "output" waveguides 1277 are shown connected to three ports 1b, 2b, and 3b. The waveguides form nine intersections. At each intersection, there are three additional optical paths connecting each "input" and each "output". The additional paths are identical in this example, and consist of three types. The first type 1266 of optical path consists of a pair of fixed frequency switched reflectors both capable of reflecting the first one of the two signal frequency bands of the WDM system. The reflectors are preferably gratings transverse of the "input" and the "output" waveguides associated with the intersection, and reflect power in the first frequency band between the corresponding waveguide and an additional waveguide segment connecting the two gratings. The second type 1268 of optical path consists of a second pair of fixed frequency switched reflectors both capable of reflecting the second one of the two signal frequency bands of the WDM system. Again, the reflectors are preferably gratings placed transverse of the respective waveguides and reflect power in the second frequency band between the corresponding waveguides and an additional waveguide segment connecting the second two gratings. The third type 1270 of optical path consists of a pair of frequency independent switched reflectors both capable of reflecting both signal frequency bands of the WDM system. This third type of optical path may be implemented as the pair of TIR reflectors connected by waveguides and fixed mirror (described in reference to FIG. 37).

In this case, ports 1a, 2a, 1b, and 2b plus the associated waveguides 1276, 1277 form a 2×2 switching network capable of switching two frequency channels simultaneously between any "input" port and any "output" port. System control ports 3a and 3b with associated waveguides 1276, 1277 provide monitoring and system communication functions. If the first frequency of the WDM system is desired to be switched between port 2a and 1b, for example, the two switches associated with the optical path of type 1266 at the intersection of the waveguides connecting to ports 2a and 1b are turned on, routing optical power at the first frequency between ports 2a and 1b through the waveguide connecting the two switches. If all frequencies associated with a given port are to be routed into another port, the switches and optical path of type 1270 are turned on at the intersection corresponding to the two ports. The optical paths 1270 are really superfluous in a 2×2 network because to switch both WDM frequencies between any two channels, both corresponding paths 1266 and 1268 may be activated. However, in a high order communications network with many WDM frequencies, a single all-frequency connection is desirable since it will have the lowest loss.

FIG. 40 shows a two dimensional one-to-many routing structure. A first row of waveguide routing switches connects optical power from an input waveguide into columns of pixel waveguides. Again, no details of the switches are shown; they are shown schematically only as gratings, but may be implemented in several different ways. A two dimensional array of "pixel" switches routes power out of the pixel waveguides at "pixel locations". (What happens to this power at the pixel locations depends on the application.) Two levels of switching are used to reach all the pixels. This structure may be used for display, to actuate or control processes or devices, or to read certain types of data. In the latter case the direction of the power flow is reversed, and the device operates as a many-to-one routing structure.

An input optical beam 1342 propagates in an input waveguide 1352 and is coupled into one of many pixel waveguides 1354 by one of a two dimensional array 1356 of switching elements. The switching elements 1364 may be implemented as grating switches as described above in reference to FIGS. 7, 8, 12, 13, and 38, or they may be TIR switches as described in reference to FIGS. 30-32 and 37, or they may be any other switchable element. The beam 1344 is shown being switched by switch element 1358 into a pixel waveguide whereupon it is switched for a second time by switch element 1360, forming beam 1346 which propagates into the pixel element 1362. The pixel elements 1366 may be separated from the waveguides 1354 by waveguide segments as shown, or they may abut the waveguides at a short distance so that little of the switched light passes by the pixel elements.

In the case of the display application, the pixel elements may be for producing emission of the light 1346 out of the plane of the substrate 1348. The pixel elements may then be roughened patches on the surface of the substrate 1348, or angled micromirrors, or roughened angled micromirrors for light diffusion, or phosphor-filled pits, or other means of producing visible light. In the case of the display, the input beam 1342 may contain several colors, in which case the waveguides are capable of guiding all of the colors and the switches are capable of coupling all of the colors. The waveguide switches are scanned in a sequence to produce the image of the display. A grating switch is implemented as a multiple period grating, but the TIR switch needs little modification for this purpose. The waveguides, if single mode, must effectively guide the shortest wavelength beam. The input beam 1342 is preferably modulated externally (including all its color components) so that the switching elements are simple on-off devices. Note that a single row electrode may be disposed across the columns of waveguides to actuate a row of pixel switches if the pixel elements are arranged in a more-or-less straight line and are connectable electrically along a row.

In the case of a projection display, an additional lens structure is required to collect the light emitted by all the pixels in the array and refocus them on a screen at a (large) distance from the lens. The lens should preferably have a good off axis performance so that the focal plane is reasonably flat at the screen, and it should have a large enough numerical aperture (NA) to collect most of the light emitted by the pixel array. It would be advantageous to couple a lens array to the pixel structure to reduce the divergence of the beams produced by the individual lenses, reducing the (costly) NA requirement on the projection lens. Another way to achieve this is again to taper the waveguides to the largest possible size at the pixel. It is relatively easy to taper the pixels to a large transverse size, but difficult to obtain a very deep waveguide. Large pixels may be made by coupling a wide waveguide with a long grating coupler.

The light distributed in the routing structure may also be used to activate processes, as for example in the case of a DNA reader or an allergy reader, or a protein reader. In each of these specific cases, a separate array of DNA or allergens or proteins is prepared with fluorescent tags which can be excited by the light. One type of molecule or one preparation of molecules may be arranged for excitation over each pixel. The light is scanned electronically among the different pixels, and the speed and order of the scanning may be determined according to the results. The fluorescence may be collected for detection by an external lens and detector. However, for some applications, it is advantageous for the pixel (and its lens) and waveguide structure itself to collect and guide the emitted radiation to an optical energy detection means as well as to control the emission of the source light. Depending on the desired light illumination and collection geometry, the lens may be a collimating lens, a refocusing lens, or even, conceivably a lens to produce a diverging beam. A collimating lens is separated from the end of the waveguide by the focal length of the lens so that the transmitted (and collected) beam is essentially parallel. Collimating lenses are most useful if there is a large volume of material to be traversed by the interrogating light beam. A refocusing lens is separated from the end of the waveguide by the object distance, the inverse of which is related to the difference between the inverse of the image distance and the inverse of the focal length, where the image distance is the distance from the lens to the desired image beam spot. The refocusing lens is used if it is desired to concentrate the sample into a small spot and to illuminate and/or read it from a waveguide. A diverging beam is created by a lens separated by less than its focal length from the end of the waveguide. The output beam from a simple lens is not necessarily round if the divergences of the wave approaching the lens are different in the two planes. The simplest way to make a beam round (for minimum spot area after refocusing) is to start with a round beam at the end of the waveguide, which may be accomplished by design in the waveguide, or by tapering the waveguide. The lens preferably has the appropriate numerical aperture to admit the entire wave from the waveguide and focus it to a diffraction limited spot or collimated beam according to the application.

The pixel element 1362 may be any of the elements mentioned above in this case, and it may be associated directly with the material to be activated, or indirectly as by alignment with an external plate to which the material has been conjugated. Each pixel element may contain a lens aligned as described above so that a switch array may be coupled with a lens array with the image beam spots in a substantially common plane of focus. (Substantially common, in this case, means within a Rayleigh range or so of the true plane of focus, which may be quite distorted due to aberration. Use of a type of reflector instead of a diffuser in the pixel element 1362 is preferred if the routing structure is also used to detect the fluorescent emission: the reflector couples the emission back into the waveguide whence it came. This coupling is maintained for as long as the switches for a given pixel are activated. If desired, the light source may be switched off prior to switching to another pixel element in order to resolve the decay of the emission.

Used as a data reader, the sense of the light propagation is reversed from that illustrated in FIG. 40. Light from a device containing data is collected at the pixel elements and coupled into the routing waveguide structure which guides it back out the input waveguide 1352. Connected to the waveguide 1352 is a detector to read the data. The detector may be simultaneously connected to the waveguide via a beamsplitter between the waveguide 1352 and the light source used for illumination of the data media. The pixel elements 1366 (or simply "pixels") are preferably coupled with the data spots via lenses to collect the light routed through the structure 1350 and direct it to the data medium. The lens coupling also serves for collecting reflected or otherwise emitted light from the data medium and refocusing it on the end of the waveguide coupled to the pixel element. The data may be in a target volume, in which case the lens may be configured to collimate the light beam 1346. The data may be on a target surface, in which case the different pixel elements may correspond to different tracks on the rotating disk of a magneto-optical data storage surface, for example, or of a CD. The lens is configured to refocus the light from the pixel to the data spot in a diffraction limited way. By associating the different pixels with different tracks, track-to-track switching may be accomplished electronically with essentially no delay time.

The different pixels may also be coupled to different planes on the data medium. This is useful for reading data which have been recorded in multiple planes on the medium, to increase total storage capacity. Switching between the planes may also be accomplished electronically by switching among pixels coupled to the different planes.

In addition, several different pixel elements may be focused to locations separated by a fraction of the track separation transverse of (preferably normal to) a given track. When the track wanders, positive tracking may be accomplished electronically by switching between pixels, instead of mechanically. A sensor and electronics is needed to detect track wander, and a controller for switching to the desired pixels. The signal strength or the signal to noise ratio (SNR) may be detected in the different channels to determine the preferred (best aligned) channel. If the switches along the waveguide 1352 are configured as 4-way crosses instead of 3-way, with the fourth leg emerging at the edge of the substrate, a detector array 1368 may be placed in registration with the fourth legs, with individual detectors 1367 individually aligned with the columns for detecting the return power from each column. The optimal reflectivity for the gratings which lie along the waveguide 1352 is approximately 50% if the detectors 1367 are used, in order to maximize the return power from the data media on the detector array 1368. If a single beamsplitter is disposed in the waveguide 1352 upstream of the router structure, its optimal reflection is also 50%. Note that partial excitation of the different pixels can be achieved by partial excitation of the switches along either the input waveguide or the pixel waveguides. The switching elements 1364 can be adjusted by means of the applied electric field to vary their reflection coefficient. Some of the beam may be transmitted through the desired partially-excited switches for use in a second pixel simultaneously. Multiple pixel excitation is of particular interest in the case of track wander correction, since multiple detectors may also be configured in the router 1350. For example, if three different pixels on three different columns of the routing structure 1350 are to be simultaneously excited their corresponding pixel column switches will need to be partially excited. A computation is required of the controller to determine the appropriate excitation of the multiple switches. Neglecting losses at the switches, to produce equal intensities on their respective detectors for optimal SNR, the first switch corresponding to the first pixel column should be excited to reflect about 3/16 of the incident light, the second switch corresponding to the second pixel column should be excited to reflect about 1/4 of the remaining light which has passed through the first switch, and the last switch corresponding to the third pixel column should be excited to reflect about 1/2 of the remaining light which has passed through the previous two switches. About 15% of the incident beam is reflected into each detector, assuming 100% reflection from the medium and 100% light collection efficiencies. This result is quite good compared with the optimal 25% of the beam which is received on a single detector in the case of a single pixel (optimum switch excitation=50% reflectivity). Indeed, more total photons are collected with three beams than with only one. Electronic tracking will result in cheaper, faster, and more reliable data read/write devices.

Any combination of these approaches (electronic track switching, electronic data plane switching, and electronic tracking) may be taken to increase the performance of a data storage device. A means is also needed to accomplish variable focusing electronically, potentially removing all mechanical motion (except for rotation of the media) from the drive. As described below in reference to FIG. 54, electronically variable focusing may be accomplished with a zone-plate lens by changing the wavelength of the light beam 1342.

As drawn, the routing structure of FIG. 40 is a polarizing structure, with the 90° grating switches reflecting only the TM mode. As a result, only beamsplitting based on intensity can be used. It would be quite advantageous to be able to use polarizing beamsplitters because this would result in a factor of four increase in the signal strength for a given light intensity. However, a switching structure capable of transporting and then separating the two polarizations is required. Although the polarization dependence of the TIR switches may be made negligible at a sufficiently grazing TIR angle (well below the angle for total internal reflection for the TE mode), there is a packing density penalty in using very low angle switching geometries.

FIG. 41 shows a linear array of strongly polarization dependent switches arranged as a data reader 1370. The switches are excited with a beam 1342 which is TM polarized and highly reflected in the activated switch 1372. Waveguides 1376 and 1378 such as titanium indiffused waveguides in lithium niobate are used which guide both polarizations. The pixel elements are implemented as micromirrors 1374 combined with integrated lenses 1380 and data spots e.g. 1382 arranged in tracks 1384 on a disk 1386 rotating about the axis 1388. The orthogonally polarized light which is reflected from birefringent data spots (or separators) on the data track is collected by the lens 1380, refocused back to the waveguide 1378, and reflected by the micromirror back into the plane of the guides with TE polarization. Because the TE mode is both polarized at Brewster's angle for the grating and has different propagation constant not phase matched for reflection, it propagates through the switch without reflection into the detector 1367 of the detector array 1368. (Alternately, if the switch is a TIR switch, the reflectivity is much less for the TE wave than the TM wave, and a large portion of the TE wave transmits through the switch an impinges on the detector.) If another switch 1373 is actuated instead of the switch 1372, the beam will propagate to a different pixel 1375 and be focused according to the alignment of the pixel 1375 and its microlens 1381 either into another data track, or to another data plane, or to the same track but with a transverse deviation of a fraction of a track width (according to whether the pixel 1375 is for track switching, data plane switching, or tracking control).

Many variations are apparent on the structures described in reference to FIGS. 40 and 41, such as that any of the switches in the router may be oriented differently to change directions of optical propagation in the plane, that multiple types of switches may be used in a single device, and that higher levels of switching may be added. Additional variations are too numerous to mention.

FIG. 42 shows a switchable integrated spectrum analyzer 930. The input beam 921 enters the input waveguide 923 which stops after a certain distance. The input beam 921 may be propagating in another waveguide or it may be a free space beam which is preferably aligned and mode matched to optimize the power into the waveguide 923. The device 930 is provided with a planar waveguide 835 which constrains propagation within the plane. The light beam 927 emerging from the end of the input waveguide diverges in one plane within the planar waveguide until it passes through the integrated lens element 925. The integrated lens has an elevated index of refraction relative to the planar waveguide within a boundary defining an optical thickness that reduces approximately quadratically from the optical axis. (Or if it has a depressed index, the optical thickness increases approximately quadratically.) The lens may be fabricated by masked indiffusion or ion exchange, or it may be a reverse poled segment excited by electrodes.

The lens 925 collimates the light beam which then passes to at least one of three grating sections 929, 931, and 933. The gratings are formed from individual cells, each cell being a domain, the domains being distinguished from the background material and separated by varying amounts according to the application. The cells have a permanent or adjustable index of refraction difference from the substrate, and different cells may be of different domain types. The permanent domain types include, for example, indiffused regions, ion exchanged regions, etched regions, radiation bombarded regions, and in general, regions formed by any type of index of refraction modifying process. The grating sections may be fabricated by etching, ion exchange, or indiffusion, in which case the gratings are permanent, but they are shown in the preferred embodiment fabricated from poled domains. Electrodes 932, 934, and 936 are used to individually excite the gratings in combination with the common electrode 938. The common electrode 938 may be placed on the opposite side of the substrate as shown for simplicity, or surrounding the electrodes 932, 934, and 936 for low voltage excitation.

The cells in an individual grating may be arranged in alternate ways to form the desired periodicity in the desired direction to supply virtual photons with the required momenta. They may be arranged in rows to define certain planes with a virtual photon momentum normal to the planes with momentum defined by the spacing of the rows. In this case, there will also be virtual photons with momentum along the planes with momentum defined by the spacing of the cells in the rows. To phasematch retroreflection, the momentum of the virtual photon is exactly twice the momentum of the incident photons, and is directed in the opposite direction. Any other reflection process has a smaller momentum and is directed transverse of the incident axis. The period Λ of the row spacing is therefore fractionally related to the incident wavelength λ in that Λ is a fraction of the quantity λ/2n_(eff). In a general case, the cells may be separated by a distribution of distances which varies with position through the grating so that the virtual photon momentum along any axis of incidence is determined by the spatial frequency spectrum (determined through the Fourier transform) of the cell distribution along that axis.

At least one of the gratings 929, 931, or 933 is turned on by adjusting the potential state of the corresponding electrode. In FIG. 42, grating 929 is shown activated. The activated grating contributes virtual photons to the incident photons, phase matching the scattering process into an output direction forming a plurality of output beams 935 and 937 with different wavelengths, the output beam being separated in angle according to their wavelength. The output beams from the activated grating 929 pass through the lens 939 which refocuses the output beams onto a detector array 941. The detector array is a group of sensors disposed to receive a portion of the output beams for detection, and are preferably bonded to an edge of the device 930 as shown. However, if it is desired to integrate the device 930 onto a larger substrate, it may not be desirable to have an edge of the substrate in this location. In this case, other beam extraction methods (such as vertical deflecting mirrors) can be used to deflect a portion of the beams 935 and 937 into the detector array. The sensing means is placed approximately within about one Rayleigh range of the focal plane of the output lens 939. In this position, the input beam angles are mapped into output beam positions. Since the gratings map input wavelength into output beam angles, a collimated input beam results in different input wavelengths being mapped into different positions in the focal plane, with spatial resolution of the wavelength spectrum depending on the characteristics of the grating. The detected power as a function of the location of the detector in the array 941 is related to the frequency power spectrum of the input beam 921. The device 930 is therefore a spectrum analyzer. It is also a multichannel detector if the input beam is divided into channels occupying several displaced frequency channels, and the device is configured to disperse the channels into predetermined detectors or groups of detectors.

By switching on different gratings, the device can be reconfigured to function in different frequency ranges. For example, if grating 931 or 933 is activated, the dispersed light is focused by lens 939 onto either a different detector array 943 or a different portion of an extended detector array 941. The frequency range of the gratings is determined by the angle of the grating to the beam, and the periodicities of the grating. Grating 931 is shown to have a shallower angle to the beam so that a higher optical frequency range is selected when it is activated. Grating 933 has multiple periodicities transverse to each other so that multiple overlapping frequency ranges can be selected. Multiple frequencies may be mapped into poled region boundaries as described above in reference to FIG. 18. The poled elements of the grating 933 may be arranged generally in planes oriented normal to the two principle virtual photon momentum directions. The phasing of the planes is determined by the process for transcribing the component frequencies of the desired grating into domain boundaries. However, the general grating may have momentum components in all directions, in which case the resulting domain boundaries may not organize into planes except possibly in a principal direction. A transmitted beam 913 is refocused by integrated lens 907 into an output waveguide segment 909 to form the output beam 911 which contains at least a portion of the out of band portions of the input beam 921 which did not interact with the gratings.

A useful variation of the switched range spectrum analyzer combines elements of FIGS. 42 and 30-35. The basic idea stems from the fact that the spectral range of a grating can be shifted by changing its angle, or equivalently the source point. In this variation, a waveguide routing structure is used to allow the source point to be switched. Waveguide switches are placed on the input waveguide 923 (and possibly on the emanating waveguides) at one or more locations, producing an array of parallel source waveguides among which the input light beam 921 is switchable. The waveguides all end in the same plane, preferably the focal plane of the input lens 925. The remainder of the spectrum analyzer remains the same, although with multiple inputs it may not be necessary to have the additional gratings 931 and 933. The separation of the multiple switched input waveguides is adjusted according to the application to achieve the desired switchable spectral ranges for the analyzer 930.

FIG. 43 shows a poled acoustic multilayer interferometric structure 953. The incident acoustic wave 972 may be a bulk or a surface acoustic wave. A poled structure is fabricated in the region 955 of a piezoelectric substrate 965, containing two types of domains 963 and 964. It is known (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,823 Miller et al.) that polarity reversals result in partial acoustic wave reflection. The reflection into beam 973 and the transmission into beam 961 is affected by the spacing of the interfaces between the poled regions. If high reflection and low transmission is desired, adjacent interfaces should be spaced by a distance equal to an integral multiple of half an acoustic wavelength. If high transmission is required through a structure, with low reflection, the spacing should be equal to a quarter of an acoustic wavelength plus any integral multiple of half a wavelength. By applying an appropriate number of poled regions near an interface where the acoustic impedance changes, an antireflection (AR) structure can be fabricated provided that the phases of the reflected waves are chosen to be out of phase with and the same amplitude as the reflected wave from the interface.

FIG. 44 shows a poled bulk acoustic transducer 971. An input acoustic beam 972 is incident on a poled region of a piezoelectric substrate 965 containing a pair of electrodes 974 and 975. The poled region contains two types of domains 963 and 964 which are optimally reversed domains. The electric field induced by the acoustic wave in each of the poled regions can be selected to be identical by reversing the poling direction every half acoustic wavelength. In this case, a single electrode may be used to pick up the induced voltage instead of the prior art interdigitated electrodes. The electrodes 974 and 975 are used to detect the presence of the input wave 972. The output voltage, tapped by conductors 979 and seen in the electronic controller 978, varies sinusoidally (for a narrowband input) as a function of time with an amplitude related to the amplitude of the acoustic wave. As discussed above, if the poled interface spacing is a half wavelength, the structure also acts as a high reflector, which may not be desirable in a given implementation. This characteristic may be eliminated by spacing the interfaces alternately at one quarter wavelength and three quarters of a wavelength as shown in FIG. 44. In this case, the structure is an antireflection coating, eliminating the undesired reflection. Since almost the entire acoustic wave penetrates into the poled structure, where its energy can be almost totally absorbed into the detection electronics, this structure 971 is an efficient tuned detector of acoustic energy. The bandwidth of the structure is inversely related to the number of acoustic periods that fit within the poled structure covered by the electrodes. The efficiency is related to the acoustic path length under the electrodes. The bandwidth and the efficiency of the detector are therefore related, and can be adjusted by changing the size of the detection region.

The structure 971 can also be used as an acoustic generator, essentially by running the process in reverse. A time dependent electrical signal is applied between the two electrodes at the frequency of the acoustic wave it is desired to excite. The piezoelectric coefficient of the substrate produces a periodic strain at the frequency of the acoustic wave, and a pair of waves are generated, one 961 propagating in the forward direction and one 973 in the reverse direction. A high efficiency unidirectional generator can be made if it is desired to generate only a single wave, by combining the devices 953 and 971, with 953 being configured as a total reflector for the undesired wave. If the total reflector is oriented at 90° to the undesired wave and the phase of the reflected wave is chosen to be in phase with the desired wave, the two waves will emerge in a single direction as essentially a single wave.

A variation of the structure of FIG. 44 is a strain-actuated optical interaction device. In this device, the poled regions 964 and 963 are actuated by a strain field, producing a change in the index of refraction through the photoelastic effect. Now the structure 975 is a strain-inducing pad which may be deposited onto the substrate material 965 at an elevated temperature so that the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the film and the substrate create a strain field at room temperature. The mechanical strain field, working through the photoelastic tensor, produces index changes in the substrate which change from domain to domain, again producing a substrate with patterned index of refraction which can be used as described elsewhere herein. Electric fields using the electro-optic effect can be combined with the photoelastic effect provided that the deposition process of the electrodes do not undesirably affect the desired strain field.

The structure 890 of FIG. 45 is a tuned coherent detector of pairs of light waves. It is tuned in the sense that it will only sense frequency differences between light waves within a certain bandwidth about a desired central "resonant" frequency difference. In the simplest case, the device is configured with equal separations between interdigitated electrodes 885 and 886 which form a periodic structure with period Λ. At a given instant, the two input frequencies present in the input beam 887 produce an interference pattern of electric fields within the waveguide 888 with a spatial period which depends on the optical frequency difference and the index of refraction of the substrate 889 at the optical frequency. At a frequency difference where the spatial period of the interference pattern equals the period Λ, the electrode structure is on resonance, and the electrodes will be excited to a potential difference due to the induced displacement charge at the top of the waveguide.

The frequency response characteristic is related to a sinc² function with resonant frequency determined by the optical frequency difference at which two optical waves slip phase by 2π in a poled grating period. The buffer layer 891 is required to minimize the loss to the propagating optical waves when the electrode structure is laid down. It does not substantially reduce the strength of the induced potential if its thickness is much smaller than the period Λ. The interference pattern has a low frequency component which oscillates at the frequency difference between the two light waves. The electronic signal which is picked up by the electronic controller 978 via leads 979 therefore also oscillates at the difference frequency. The amplitude of the electronic signal is large at the resonance difference frequency, and falls off at other difference frequencies according to the bandwidth of the device, which is related to the inverse of the number of beat periods contained within the interdigitated electrode structure.

The interdigitated electrodes may alternately be configured with multiple frequency components so that there are several resonant frequencies, or so that the bandwidth of the response is modified. Note also that the device may be sensitive to multiple orders. If the electrodes are narrow compared to a half period, there will be a significant response at the odd harmonics of the resonant difference frequency. By shifting the fingers relative to each other so that there is asymmetry along the axis of the waveguide, a responsivity can be created to the even harmonics. This higher order response can only be improved at the expense of lowering the first order response. It can be minimized by centering the electrodes relative to each other, and by increasing their width. Finally, the waveguide 888 is not strictly necessary. It may be omitted, but the detected waves should be brought very close to the electrodes to optimize the signal pickup.

FIG. 46 shows a low loss switchable waveguide splitter 780. This device has a permanent wye waveguide splitter 774 consisting of an input waveguide segment widening into a wye junction and branching into two output waveguide segments 775 and 776 which are both optical path possibilities for light incident in the input segment. The widths and index profiles of the input and output segments are preferably equal. The splitter 780 also has a poled structure 778 which has an electro-optic coefficient within the region of the wye splitter 774. The poled region 778 may be a thin layer near the top of the substrate, which may have multiple layers, or it may extend throughout the substrate. The remainder of the substrate may be poled or unpoled. A pair of planar electrodes 777 and 779 are disposed adjacent to each other over the waveguides, with one electrode 777 covering a portion of one output waveguide 775, and the other electrode 779 covering a portion of the other output waveguide 776. The electrodes are planar only to the extent that this optimizes fabrication convenience and function: if the surface they are applied to is flat or curved, they conform. The edge 781 of the electrode 777 crosses the waveguide 775 at a very shallow angle, and forms a smooth continuation of the inside edge of the waveguide 776 at the wye junction. Likewise, the edge 783 of the electrode 779 crosses the waveguide 776 at a very shallow angle, and forms a smooth continuation of the inside edge of the waveguide 775 at the wye junction. When the electrodes are excited relative to each other with one polarity, the index of refraction under the electrode 777 is depressed and the index under the electrode 779 is increased. As a result, an excited region under the electrode edge 781 forms a waveguide boundary, steering the input beam 789 almost entirely into the output beam 784 with very little power leakage into the alternate output beam 782. The increased index under the electrode 779 aids in steering the optical energy away from the boundary 781. When the opposite polarity is applied between the electrodes, the input beam is steered almost entirely into the other output beam 782. If no voltage is applied, the input power is evenly divided into the two output ports if the structure is made symmetric. This structure is therefore a 3 dB splitter which can be electrically switched as a beam director into one of two directions with low loss.

The electrodes 777 and 779 are tapered away from the wye structure 774 at the input to the structure forming a gradual approach of the lower index region towards the waveguide to minimize optical losses. The smoothing effect of the electrostatic field distribution produces a very smooth index of refraction transition under both electrodes. The edge of the electrodes which crosses the output waveguides far from the wye branching region is preferably arranged at 90° to the waveguide to minimize losses.

The wye splitter may be arranged in an asymmetric way to produce a splitting ratio different from 3 dB with the fields off. This can be done by increasing the deviation angle for one of the waveguides and/or decreasing the angle for the other. The switching function operates almost as well with an asymmetric structure as with a symmetric structure, provided that a sufficiently large electric field is applied with the electrodes. The extinction ratio (the ratio between the power in the switched-on waveguide and the power in the switched-off waveguide) can remain very large despite a large asymmetry. However, the optical losses will be somewhat different in the two legs of an asymmetric switchable waveguide splitter. The device 780 may, therefore, be configured as a splitter with any desired splitting ratio, and still be switched with good efficiency and high extinction ratio.

This device may be cascaded to allow switching among more than two output waveguides. If, for instance, the output waveguide 775 is connected to the input of a second device similar to 780, its power may be passively or actively switched into an additional pair of waveguides. Sixteen switched output lines may be accomplished with four sets of one, two, four, and eight switches similar to 780. The power division ratio among these lines may be configured to be equal in the unswitched state, or any other power division ratio. When the switches are activated, a single output waveguide may be turned on, a single output waveguide may be turned off, or any combination of output waveguides may be turned on and off.

The direction of propagation of the light in the device may be reversed. In this case, an input on either one of the output ports 775 and 776 can be switched to emerge from the input port. In the absence of an applied voltage, the power at each output port is coupled into the input port with a given attenuation (3 dB in the case of a symmetric device). When the field is switched on, power in the "on" waveguide is connected into the input port with very low loss, while the power in the "off" waveguide is very effectively diffracted away from the input waveguide. The "off" waveguide is essentially isolated from the input port. Alternatively, a mirror image device may be connected back-to-back with the switch 780 so that the input waveguides join together, forming a 2×2 switch or router. An input on either pair of waveguide ports may be switched into either waveguide of the other port pair. Again, cascading is possible, producing an n×n switch/router.

FIG. 47 shows an alternative realization 790 of a switchable waveguide splitter using multiple poled regions. In this configuration, the switched index difference along the boundaries of the waveguides in the wye region is enhanced, thereby confining better the optical mode into a narrower region, and reducing the residual coupling into the switched-off output waveguide. Two poled regions 785 and 786 are disposed on each side of the input waveguide 774 along the wye splitting region. The poled regions have boundaries 787 and 788 which cross the output waveguides 775 and 776 at a very shallow angle, and which form a smooth continuation of the inside edges of the waveguides 776 and 775 at the wye junction. The boundaries of the poled regions taper slowly away from the input waveguide to allow a slow onset of the electrically excited index change, and they cross the output waveguides at a large distance from the wye junction where the electric field is substantially reduced, in order to reduce the optical loss. Electrodes 791 and 792 are disposed substantially over the poled regions 785 and 786.

A potential difference is applied to the electrodes, exciting an electric field in an electrostatic pattern throughout the volume between and around them. The electric field penetrates the poled regions and the surrounding regions, inducing a corresponding pattern of optical index changes. The local optical index change is related to the product of the local electric field direction and the local electro-optic coefficient. The poled regions are preferably surrounded by regions of opposite polarity, in which case their electro-optic coefficient is of opposite sign to that of the surrounding regions. At the interfaces 787 and 788 there is a sharp change in the index of refraction. On one side of the waveguide, the index is reduced at the interface, producing a guiding tendency away from the low index region. The opposite is true of the other side. If the applied electric field is large enough, the interface with the reduced index forms a waveguide boundary. Since the guiding interface connects smoothly as an extension of the inside boundary of the output waveguide across from the poled region, the input light beam 789 is guided into that output waveguide. The light leak is low into the switched-off waveguide if the curvature of the guiding boundary is gradual. There is low loss at the input, because the poled regions approach the waveguide slowly. There is low loss at the wye junction, because the portions of the poled regions which extend beyond the junction depress the guiding effect of the switched-off output waveguide, and enhance the guiding of the switched-on output waveguide.

As an alternative, the poled regions could be surrounded by unpoled material. There is still an abrupt change in the index at the interfaces 787 and 788 so the device still functions, but the index change is only half the value obtained when the poled regions are surrounded with reverse poled material, so the applied field must be higher. The alternatives described before also apply to this device.

FIG. 48 shows the key design elements of a 1×3 switch. The design elements illustrated here show how to transform the device 780 of FIG. 46 into a 1×3 switch with a single poled region and patterned electrodes. The device contains a permanent branching waveguide with the desired number n (n=three) of output branches. The waveguide passes through a poled region which extends deeper than the waveguides (for good extinction ratio) and significantly beyond the junction region where the waveguides have become separated by a large amount (such as three times their width). Several zones are defined by the waveguide boundaries, by their smooth extensions back into the boundaries of the input waveguide, and by normal boundaries across the output waveguides at a distance significantly beyond the junction region. There are (n² +2n-2)/2 zones so defined. It is usefull to extend the outermost zone beyond the outside of the outermost waveguide as shown to taper the input. A separate electrode is placed over each of the regions with a small gap between all electrodes, but sufficient gap to avoid electrical breakdown when excited.

To operate the device, electric fields are independently applied to the zones with polarity determined by whether or not the corresponding zone is confined within the desired waveguide. For example, the five zones of FIG. 48 are excited according to Table I. As before, the magnitude of the electric field is adjusted to produce a good guiding boundary along the edges of adjacent zones excited at different polarities.

                  TABLE I                                                          ______________________________________                                         Electrode Number                                                                            Top         Middle  Bottom                                        ______________________________________                                         1            +           -       -                                             2            +           +       -                                             3            -           +       -                                             4            -           +       +                                             5            -           -       +                                             ______________________________________                                    

Alternatively, the design elements of FIG. 48 also show how to transform the device 790 of FIG. 47 into a 1×3 switch with multiple poled regions. The device again contains a permanent branching waveguide with the desired number n (n=three) of output branches. Again, several zones are defined by the waveguide boundaries, by their smooth extensions back into the boundaries of the input waveguide, and by boundaries which cross the output waveguides at a distance significantly beyond the junction region. Again, it is useful to extend the outermost zone beyond the outside of the outermost waveguide as shown, in order to taper the input. Each zone is poled in the opposite direction to neighboring zones with a common zone boundary. Zones with the same poling direction may share at most a vertex. Preferably, the input waveguide region is poled oppositely to the innermost zones (i.e. the zones closest to the input waveguide). In FIG. 48 the innermost zones are labeled zones 2 and 4. This zone-based polarity selection procedure results in only zones 2 and 4 being reverse poled, while zones 1, 3, and 5, which are the output waveguide zones, are poled positive (in the same direction as the surrounding region, if the surrounding region is poled). If four output waveguides are used, there are nine zones, six of which are reverse poled, including all of the output waveguide zones. The splitter implementations which have an even number of output waveguides, therefore, have some advantage because only the even splitters have their output waveguide zones poled opposite to a potential substrate poling, with the attendant advantage of increased confinement at the final division point and higher transmission for the "on" states and better reverse isolation in the "off" states. A separate electrode is placed over each of the regions.

To operate the device, electric fields are independently applied to the zones, but now the rule for the polarity is different. The polarity is determined by two factors: whether or not the corresponding zone is contained within the desired waveguide, and the polarity of the poled region underneath. For example, if a positive polarity applied to a positively poled region produces an increase in the index of refraction, the following selection rules are followed: if a zone is poled positive, the electrical excitation polarity is selected to be positive if the zone is inside the desired waveguide and negative if the zone is outside; if a zone is reverse poled (negative), the polarity is selected to be negative if the zone is inside the desired waveguide, and positive if the zone is outside. In Table II are shown the optimal poling direction of the zones for the n=3 case with three output ports as shown in FIG. 48. The design of 1×n and n×n switches is derived by induction from the descriptions of the FIGS. 46, 47 and 48.

                  TABLE II                                                         ______________________________________                                         Zone    Poling Direction                                                                           Top       Middle                                                                               Bottom                                     ______________________________________                                         1       -           -         +     +                                          2       +           +         +     -                                          3       -           +         -     +                                          4       +           -         +     +                                          5       -           +         +     -                                          ______________________________________                                    

The planar components described herein may be stacked into multiple layer three dimensional structures containing electro-optically controlled devices and waveguide components. Stacks or three-dimensional constructions of planar waveguides and switches are fabricated by alternately layering or depositing electro-optically active, polable thin films, preferably polymers, and buffer isolation layers, which may be either insulating or electrically conducting. Advantages of stacked structures include better crosstalk isolation due to more widely spaced waveguide elements. Higher power handling capability is also achieved because more optical power can be distributed among the layers. Individual layers can be used if desired to distribute individual wavelengths in a display device.

Once deposited on a suitable substrate, poling of the active optical waveguide/switching layer is done using the techniques heretofore described. A buffer layer of lower index is necessary to isolate one active layer from adjacent layers, and is designed to establish the desired guiding in the dimension normal to the plane. Buffer layers of SiO₂, for example, may be used. Next comes a ground plane which can be fabricated from a metallic layer since it is isolated from the optically active layers, followed by a thick buffer layer. The buffer layers must also be capable of withstanding the applied voltages between the different layers of electrodes and ground planes. In polymers, a large area may be poled, and desired regions selectively de-poled by UV irradiation techniques as previously described in order to create waveguide features, even after a transparent buffer layer, such as SiO₂ has been applied. Or, poling can be performed electrically. With polymers, de-poling one layer by UV irradiation will not affect the layer behind it because of the shielding provided by the underlying metallic ground plane. Metal electrodes and conductive paths may then be laid down by standard masking and coating techniques, followed by another insulating buffer layer, and the next active layer. The buffer layer should be planarized to minimize the loss in the subsequent active optical waveguide/switching layer. This process of adding layers may be repeated as often as desired for a given device.

A variation in fabrication technique for making activation paths and electrodes for the poled device stacks is to coat the electro-optic layer with an insulating layer that is subsequently doped or infused to produce electrically conductive patterns within the buffer layer using standard lithographic masking techniques. Incorporating the electrodes into the buffer layer would serve to minimize the thickness of the stacked device.

Hybridized devices consisting of different electro-optically active materials could be used to ameliorate fabrication complexities. For example, the first electro-optically active layer containing waveguide devices could be fabricated in a LiNbO₃ substrate, which would also serve as the support substrate. Next a buffer layer and a layer of electrodes for the lithium niobate devices are deposited. Two insulating buffer layers sandwiching a conducting plane would then be coated onto the device prior to depositing the next active layer which could be a polable polymer. Subsequent layers are built up, poled and patterned as described earlier. The conducting planes in between buffer layers may serve both as electrodes to permit area poling of each polymer layer and to shield previous layers from the poling process.

Stacked waveguide arrays may be used, for example, as steering devices for free space beam manipulation. Electrically activated and individually addressable waveguide elements stacked closely together, and aligned with a source array form a controllable phased array for emitting optical radiation. The relative phases of the beams can be adjusted by varying the voltages on the poled zones as described previously. By adjusting these phases in a linear ramp, the emitted light from an array of waveguides can be swept in direction rapidly within the plane of the array. A linear array of devices on a plane can therefore sweep within the plane only. However, when poled waveguide array planes are vertically integrated into a three dimensional bulk device, optical beams emanating from the device may be directed in two dimensions.

An extension of this concept is the mode control of multimode laser bar arrays using a stack of waveguide grating reflectors. The waveguide stack is dimensionally matched to butt-couple to a laser diode array. By controlling the phase of the individual elements, the emission mode pattern of a multi element laser bar can be controlled. In devices where single mode waveguide confinement is not necessary, multimode or bulk arrays may also be stacked, for example, to increase the power handling capacity of a switched poled device.

FIG. 49 illustrates an embodiment of the phased array waveguide stack section 1630 with only a single column of waveguides illustrated for clarity. Optical radiation 1640 enters the stack 1630 through waveguides 1638 which have been fabricated in an electro-optically active thin film 1650, such as a polable polymer. Here the input beams 1640 are shown staggered to represent beams of identical wavelength, but with different phases. Light travels along the waveguides 1638 in which they encounter poled regions 1634 within which the index of refraction may be modified electronically using the techniques described herein. Beams 1642 represent the output of the phased array after each light wave has been individually phase adjusted to produce output component beams that are aligned in phase.

Many other input and output wave scenarios are possible. For instance, a single mode laser beam with a flat phase wavefront could illuminate an area of waveguide elements, which would then impose arbitrary phase delays across the spatial mode of the beam, thereby allowing the beam to be electronically steered in free space. Directional beam control devices using this method would be much faster and more compact than current mechanical or A-O devices. Using optical-to-electrical pickup devices described herein or known in the art, phase differences or the presence of multiple frequency components may be sensed within or external to the stacked device in order to provide instantaneous information for a feedback loop.

The device segment 1630 represented here is constructed on a substrate 1632, such as SiO₂, by alternately depositing electrodes, buffer layers, and polable material in the following manner. A broad area planar electrode 1654, composed of an opaque metallic film or transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide, is deposited, and followed by an electrically insulating buffer layer 1652, such as SiO₂, which also serves as the lower boundary layer for the waveguide 1638 fabricated in the next layer of polable material 1650. On top of the polable layer 1650, another buffer layer 1652 is added to form an upper waveguide bound before depositing the patterned electrode 1636 used to activate the poled structures. Another buffer layer 1652 is then added, this time to electrically insulate the patterned electrode from the next layer, another broad area planar electrode 1654. The patterned electrode 1636 is separated from one planar electrode only by a thick buffer layer, and from the other by buffer layers and the polable material. Since it is desired to apply fields across the polable material, the electrical separation across the polable material should be less than the separation across the buffer layer only. The layering sequence between broad area electrodes is repeated until the last layer of polable material 1650, after which only a buffer layer 1652, patterned electrode 1636, and optional final insulating layer 1652 need be added to complete the stack. Electrical leads 1646 and 1648 are brought into contact with electrodes 1636 and 1654, respectively, through integration and bonding techniques known to the art, and connected to voltage distribution control unit 1644.

The voltage control unit 1644 serves a dual purpose: to activate the poled devices individually, and to isolate each from the electric field used to control neighboring layers of active elements. The unit 1644 would be in essence a collection of coupled floating power supplies in which the voltages between electrodes 1636 and 1654 sandwiching an active layer may be controlled without changing the voltage differences across any other active layer.

Region 1634 depicts a poled region with one or more domains, and electrode 1636 depicts an unbroken or a segmented or patterned region with one or more isolated elements. Waveguide stack 1630 is described as a device for phase control, but stacks of waveguide structures may include any number of combinations of poled devices described herein, in series optically, or otherwise configured.

FIG. 50 shows a prior art adjustable attenuator 1400. An input waveguide 1402 traverses an electro-optically active region of a substrate 1404. An input optical beam 1406 propagates along the input waveguide into an output waveguide 1408, forming the output optical beam 1410. Electrodes 1412, 1414, and 1416 are disposed over the waveguide so that when electrode 1414 is excited at a given polarity (positive or negative) with respect to the two electrodes 1412 and 1416, there is an induced change in the index of refraction within the segment 1418 region of the waveguide under and adjacent to the electrodes due to the electro-optic effect. The electrode configuration is somewhat arbitrary and may be different and more complex than shown in the prior art represented by FIG. 50, but the common factor which all the patterns have in common is that overall, they reduce the index of refraction in the core when excited to a voltage, and increase the index of the surrounding regions.

In the absence of applied electric field, the loss of the waveguide segments is low, determined primarily by scattering on roughness along the waveguide walls. However, when the electric field is applied, the loss can be increased to a very large value. The three electrode pattern allows a negative index change within the waveguide at the same time as a positive index change occurs outside the waveguide, substantially flattening and broadening the index profile. When the field is applied, the modified section of the waveguide 1418 under the electrodes has a much wider lowest order mode profile from the input 1402 and output 1408 sections of the waveguide. As a result, mode coupling loss occurs both when the input beam 1406 transitions into the section 1418 and when the light in section 1418 couples back into the output waveguide 1408. If the index changes are large enough, the lowest order mode goes below cutoff, and the light emerging from the end of the waveguide 1402 diffracts almost freely into the substrate, resulting in a large coupling loss at the beginning of the waveguide 1408.

When a given mode enters the modified section 1418 of the waveguide, the overlap between its intensity profile and any mode profile of the modified section 1418 is reduced by the change in the index profile of the modified segment. If the segment 1418 is multimode, several propagating modes and radiation modes will be excited. If it is single mode, many radiation modes will be excited. The combination of these modes then propagates to the far end of the segment 1418 and couples into the output waveguide section 1408, where only a fraction of the light couples back into a mode of the waveguide to form the output beam 1410. By controlling the voltage applied to the electrodes, the loss in the device 1400 can be adjusted from very low to very high.

The maximum loss which can be obtained depends on the magnitude of the index change, the size of the excited regions, their length, and on whether the input and output waveguides are single mode or multimode. In a variation of the geometry, only two electrodes might be disposed over the waveguide segment 1418, decreasing the index within the waveguide segment and increasing the index to one side instead of on both sides. The function is again as an attenuator, but the rejected radiation fields will tend to leave the device towards the side of the increased index. This ability to direct the lost radiation might be of advantage in some systems where control of the rejected light is desired. An absorber may also be placed downstream of the segment 1418, on one or both sides, to prevent the rejected light from interfering with other functions elsewhere in the system.

FIG. 51 shows a poled switched attenuator 1420. This device is an improvement on the prior art device of FIG. 50 in that poled regions are used to increase the definition of the index change and increase the index discontinuity, thereby increasing the amount of attenuation which can be obtained in a single stage. Regions 1422 and 1424 are electro-optically poled in a reverse direction from the surrounding material. (As an alternative, the surrounding material may be unpoled, or have no electro-optic coefficient, or it may simply be poled differently from the regions 1422 and 1424.) The central electrode 1426 covers both poled regions and surrounding material. It is excited relative to the electrodes 1428 and 1430 to produce a change in index of refraction in the poled regions 1422, 1424, and the surrounding material. The device 1420 operates in a similar way as described above in reference to the device 1400. The applied voltage reduces and broadens the index profile of the waveguide segment 1418, reducing the coupling between the mode of the output waveguide 1408 and the modes excited in the segment 1418 by the input beam 1406. In this configuration, the change in the index profile is abrupt at the beginning of the modified waveguide region 1418, and therefore the loss is larger. The number and shape of the poled segments 1422 and 1424 can be varied so long as the mode coupling with the excited waveguide segment 1418 is different from the mode coupling with the unexcited segment. The device may be configured with high loss in the electrically unexcited condition, adjusting to low loss in the electrically excited condition. In this case the electrically excited regions and/or the poled regions form a portion of the structure of the waveguide segment 1418. The waveguide segment 1418 may itself may be configured in many different ways, most notably if it is absent entirely without excitation, in which case the device is similar to the switched waveguide modulator of FIG. 29A.

As described above, these devices may be cascaded, in this case to increase the maximum attenuation.

The devices of FIG. 50 and FIG. 51 can also be operated as a variable intensity localized ("point") light source. The light propagating in waveguide 1402 is confined to follow the path of the waveguide until a voltage is applied the electrode structure. When the waveguiding effect is reduced or destroyed by changing the index of refraction, part or all of the previously confined light beam will now propagate according to free-space diffraction theory. The diffracting beam will continue to propagate in the forward direction while the beam area expands in two dimensions to be much larger than the core of the waveguide 1408. At an appropriate distance away from the electrode structure, the beam area can fill a large fraction of the substrate aperture and appear to a viewer as a point source of light emanating from a spatial location near the electrode structure.

If desired, a one-dimensional localized source can also be constructed with this technique. The waveguide segment 1418 in FIGS. 50 and 51 can be embedded in a planar waveguide structure fabricated using techniques known to the art, such that when an appropriate voltage level is applied to the electrode structure, the transverse confinement of the mode is destroyed while the vertical confinement in the planar waveguide is not. Thus the beam area would expand in one dimension, confining the light to a narrow plane.

FIG. 52 shows a poled device 1500 with an angle broadened poled grating. The method shown for broadening the bandwidth is an alternative to the bandwidth modifying approaches described in reference to FIG. 18 and elsewhere herein. A periodic structure 1500 is shown with poled regions 1502 which are preferably reverse poled into a poled region of the substrate 1504. Other structures such as waveguides and electrodes and additional gratings are incorporated as desired. The domains 1502 cross the central axis of propagation of the input beam 1508 with a pattern which may be strictly periodic with a 50% duty cycle. The sides of the top surfaces of the poled regions all align along lines drawn from an alignment point 1506. The poled regions approximately reproduce their surface shape some distance into the material. The result is a poled structure with periodicity which changes linearly with the transverse position in the poled substrate. An input beam 1508 which traverses the poled region may be a freely propagating Gaussian beam (if the domains are deeply poled) or it may be confined in a waveguide 1512. According to the function of the grating, the input beam may be coupled into a filtered or frequency converted output beam 1510, or into a retroreflected beam 1514. The range of periodicities in the grating structure (and hence its bandwidth) depends on the width of the beam and separation of the point 1506 from the axis of the beam. By adjusting these quantities, the bandwidth of the poled structure may be increased substantially over the minimum value determined by the number of first order periods which fit in the grating. There is a limit on the maximum desirable angle for the poled boundaries, and therefore the structure shown in FIG. 52 cannot be extended without limit. However, a long interaction region can be obtained by cascading several segments together. To maximize the coherence between the segments, the periodicity of the domains along the central axis of the beam should be unmodified at the joins between segments. There will be at least one wedge shaped domain between segments.

Although increasing the bandwidth of the grating decreases the interaction strength, it makes a device using that grating significantly less sensitive to small frequency drifts. For example, a frequency doubler device using an angle broadened grating is more tolerant of temperature drifts. Another example application is the channel dropping filter which tends to have narrow bandwidth because of the strong gratings which must be used. Use of an angle broadened grating enables a widened pass band to accept high bandwidth communications signals. The angle broadened grating can also be applied in the other grating configurations discussed above.

There are alternatives for implementing the angle broadened grating which do not follow the exact pattern described above. For example, the relationship between the angle of the grating periods and the distance along the propagation axis might be more complex than linear. A quadratic or exponential variation might be more appropriate for some applications where the majority of the interacting power exists at one end of the grating. The angle broadening technique is also applicable to prior art types of gratings such as indiffused, ion exchanged, and etched gratings.

An alternative angle broadened device 1520 using a curved waveguide is shown in FIG. 53. In this case, the poled regions 1522 have parallel faces, and the angle of the faces are inclined only relative to the local direction of propagation within the guide. Again, the bandwidth is broadened by the different components of the wave experiencing different Fourier components of the grating. The curved waveguide has a higher loss than the straight waveguide, but large curvatures are not required. Several sections as shown in FIG. 53 may be concatenated, forming for example a sinuous waveguide structure that waves back and forth around an essentially straight line.

FIG. 54 shows a controllable poled lens 1530. Concentrically arranged domains 1532, 1534, 1536, and 1538 are poled into an electro-optic substrate 1540 with a reverse polarity from that of the substrate. Transparent electrodes 1542 and 1544 are applied to the two opposing surfaces of the device above and below the poled regions. When an electric field is applied between the two electrodes, the poled regions have their index of refraction either increased or decreased according to the polarity. The geometry of the poled regions is determined by the diffractive requirements of focusing an optical wave of a given color. The separations between the boundaries varies roughly quadratically with radius. If the application requires focusing a plane wave to a round spot, for example, the poled regions will be round (for equal focusing in both planes), and separated by decreasing amounts as the diameter of the poled region increases. The boundaries of the poled regions are determined by the phase of a the desired outgoing wave relative to the incoming wave at the surface of the lens structure. A poled region boundary occurs every time the relative phase of the waves changes by π. For example, if the incoming wave is a plane wave its phase is constant along the surface. If the outgoing wave is a converging wave which will focus at a spot far from the surface, it is essentially a spherical wave and the phase changes in that spherical wave determine the boundaries. The lens 1530 is a phase plate with adjustable phase delay according to the applied voltage, and the domains occupy the Fresnel zones of the object.

To focus a plane wave of a given color, a voltage is applied which is sufficient to phase retard (or advance) the plane wave by π. Each different frequency has a different focal length defined by the Fresnel zone structure of the poled lens 1530. Higher frequencies have longer focal lengths. If it were not for dispersion, every wavelength would optimally focus at the same voltage. The voltage can be adjusted to compensate for the dispersion in the substrate material 1540. If the voltage is adjusted away from the optimal value, the amount of light which is focused to the spot is reduced because the phase of the light from the different zones no longer add optimally. They will interfere partially destructively, reducing the net intensity.

FIG. 55 shows a laser feedback device 1450. The laser source consists of an amplifier region 1452, a rear reflector 1454, and a low reflection output region 1456 which may be an antireflection coated window, for example. While a conventional laser will have a second high reflector, in this invention, the high reflector is removed so that a grating feedback device can control the laser oscillation. The reflection from the output region 1456 and the coupler 1458 is low enough so that the laser does not lase without additional feedback from an external source. The external feedback source consists of an optical coupling system 1458 and a poled material 1460 which reflects a beam from the optical amplifier when excited by an electric field. Because the reflection spectrum of the poled material 1460 may be very narrow in frequency space, it may select a narrow region in which laser operation can occur about the single frequency or frequencies which make up the grating according to the distribution of grating periods. If the resonator cavity is long enough so that the FSR is on the same order as the width of the reflection spectrum, the combined device will oscillate on a single longitudinal mode.

The means 1458 for coupling optical energy between the optical amplifier and the material 1460 collects and refocuses the output mode of the laser into the poled material. The coupler 1458 may consist of many alternate realizations, including one or more of the following components: high numerical aperture lenses, such as GRIN (graded index), aspheric, diffractive, or multi-element spherical lenses; tapered waveguides; proximity adjusters and aligners in the case of butt coupling from waveguide to waveguide. The surfaces of the coupler 1460 are preferably antireflection coated. The AR coating may be a multilayer dielectric coating, or a sol-gel coating, or a quarter wave layer of a material with the appropriate index of refraction (geometric mean of the two adjacent media). If the material is bulk poled, the optimal focus within the material 1460 has a Rayleigh range approximately equal to the length of the poled region. If the material has a waveguide for confinement of the propagating beam, the optical coupling system should optimally transform the laser mode into a mode profile at the entrance of the waveguide which matches the desired mode of the waveguide in terms of phase front angle, radii of curvature, and transverse dimensions. The poled structure consists of at least two types of domains 1461 and 1463 which are preferably oppositely poled. The poled material has electrodes 1462 and 1464 which extend across the poled region and which can be excited electrically by the power supply 1466. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes, the induced field in the material produces changes in the index of refraction which vary spatially according to the poling direction and the electric field strength. By inducing periodic structures in the poling, electrically controllable periodic modulations in the index of refraction can be induced.

The amplifier 1452 is provided with the necessary mounting and excitation to produce an optical gain coefficient over an extended region characterized by a central optical axis. The optical bandwidth of the amplifier is limited according to the process which gives rise to gain. The bandwidth is the width (typically the 3 dB full width) of the gain profile: the dependence of the gain as a function of optical frequency. The semiconductor diode technology (such as InGaAs, AlGaAs, AlGaInP, InGaAsP, ZnSe, GaN, InSb) is advantageous for providing a large bandwidth, although without the capability of supplying high power. The optical reflector 1454 is a feedback mirror which can be a bulk mirror aligned and matched in radius to the phase front of the mode to reflect the mode propagating out the rear surface of the amplifier back into itself. Or in the case of a waveguide amplifier (Nd:YAG, Er:YAG, Nd:LiNbO₃, Er:LiNbO₃, and various combinations of rare earth ions and crystalline or glassy hosts), it can be a facet of the amplifier which is cleaved or polished normal to the waveguide. If the resonator geometry is a ring, permitting unidirectional propagation of light, the optical reflector is a multi element structure composed of at least two elements to collect the light reflected from the material 1460 which does not pass through the amplifier, and to align and refocus this light back through the amplifier to the material 1460 again with similar mode characteristics as it had on previous passes.

Several beam interactions with the periodic poled material 1460 are possible. If the periodicity is chosen to be a multiple of the period required to retroreflect light within the gain profile of the amplifier 1452, the device will function as a (higher order) field controlled feedback mirror. The laser can be turned on when the voltage 1466 is switched on, thereby creating retroreflection within the bandwidth of the grating. The laser output can then be amplitude modulated by modulating that voltage since the laser oscillation varies in proportion to the strength of the electric field. The modulation control means 1466 provides the voltage and current required to establish the desired electric fields in the material 1460 as a function of time. The laser can also be modelocked by operating the modulation control means 1466 at a frequency equal to a multiple of the round trip frequency for the light between the material 1460 and the laser reflector 1454. Since the reflectivity of the poled structure 1450 is modulated at the same frequency, the light beam resonating between the two feedback mirrors 1450 and 1454 tends to break up into one pulse (or more) which of course bounces around with the round trip frequency. If the frequency is a multiple (1×, 2×, 3×, . . . ) of the round trip frequency, the reflectivity will be high each time the pulse approaches the reflector 1450. At the higher multiples, the reflectivity remains high for a shorter time so a shorter pulse is produced, but some means may be needed to suppress the additional pulses which tend to be formed at the other high reflection times within the round trip optical transit time. The additional pulses can be suppressed by also applying a component of the signal at the round trip frequency to the reflector 1450, by also modulating the amplifier 1452, or by other means including conventional additional components. An optical output may be extracted into the beam 1468 or 1469.

The laser is frequency stabilized by using the feedback device 1450 because periodic reflectors operate only at specific frequencies. Incident frequencies outside the bandwidth of the poled structure are not reflected. In a simple structure, the bandwidth is determined by the inverse of the number of first order grating periods which fit in the length of the poled region containing that frequency component. In a more complicated structure with multiple periods, the bandwidth is determined by the Fourier transform of the poled structures along the bisector angle of the incident and the reflected beam propagation directions. Because feedback is only present over a limited frequency range, the output frequency of the device 1450 can be much narrower than that of a free running laser oscillator in which the poled structure has been replaced by a simple mirror. If the bandwidth of the reflection is comparable to the separation of the longitudinal modes of the extended cavity formed by the reflector 1454 and the poled structure, the device will operate in a single frequency mode.

The stabilization characteristic is particularly useful in the case of the semiconductor diode laser, where the gain is very high and broadband. With diode lasers, all undesired internal reflections such as the reflection from the output region 1456 should preferably be kept very low (such as below 10⁻³).

The electrodes 1462 and 1464 may be on the same side of the substrate or on opposite sides, according to the field penetration and drive voltage preferred for the application. The resonator including the laser and the switched reflector may also be a ring resonator instead of the linear resonator shown in FIG. 55. Additional optical elements are required to form the ring resonator as is known in the prior art, and the reflection from the poled material 1460 is not at normal incidence. The periodicity and angle of the grating must always be adjusted so that the virtual photon added to the interaction produces momentum conservation between the input and the output photon. This constraint determines both the angle and the period of the poled grating.

FIG. 56 shows a laser feedback device 1470 with a waveguide. A waveguide 1472 may be incorporated into the poled material 1460 to confine the light beam for a long distance. This is particularly useful in devices which require the interaction length to generate a significant reflection, and in integrated devices where all light is routed in waveguides. Waveguide lasers 1474 such as semiconductor diode lasers or diode pumped solid state lasers may be butt-coupled to the waveguide, as shown in FIG. 56, for rugged and efficient operation. In butt coupling, the optical coupling system 1458 is the AR coating on the surfaces 1475 and 1477 along with the alignment and mounting structures necessary to maintain alignment. The waveguides of the optical amplifier 1474 and the poled substrate 1460 are aligned so that the optical field phase front which emerges from the optical amplifier towards the substrate has to an optimal extent the same angles, radii, and transverse dimensions as the phase front of the mode which propagates in the waveguide 1472. The separation of the two waveguides should be within a Rayleigh range, and their deviation from coaxial alignment should be less than a fraction of the transverse mode size. Either one of the waveguides 1472 or the guide in the amplifier 1476 may be tapered to optimize this overlap. In waveguide devices, it is not necessary for the poled regions 1478 and 1480 to extend entirely through the substrate 1460. Electrodes 1482, 1484, and 1486 are disposed over the poled region traversed by the waveguide 1472. When electrode 1484 is excited relative to electrodes 1482 and 1486, an index of refraction pattern is created in the waveguide with structure determined essentially by the structure of the poled substrate. This index pattern may act as a reflector as described in reference to FIG. 55, and/or it may act as a coupler to other waveguides as described above. An optical output may be extracted from the device at either the through port 1488 or the opposite end of the amplifier 1489.

A frequency doubler may be incorporated into the substrate 1460 if the substrate material is a nonlinear optical material such as lithium niobate, lithium tantalate, or KTP. The quasi phase matched doubler may be incorporated as a part of the feedback grating structure, prior to it, or after it. If the grating structure incorporates multiple reflection frequencies, the optical amplifiers 1452 or 1474 may be induced to oscillate at two or more frequencies within their gain bandwidths. In this case, the nonlinear frequency converter may be a sum frequency mixer instead of a doubler, or several such devices may be cascaded to form multiple frequency combinations of the multiple frequency outputs.

The variations described above relative to the poled structure, its excitation, and its mode of use can also be applied in combination with the external optical amplifier. In particular, frequency tunable lasers can be realized by combining the structures of FIGS. 55 and 56 with the tunable gratings of FIGS. 14 and 15, respectively. As before, tuning is achieved by arranging the poled grating structure so that the average index of refraction changes with applied field. The frequency of operation of the optical amplifier 1452 or 1474 is determined by the frequency of the feedback from the poled structure 1460, The output frequency may therefore be chirped and/or modulated by chirping and/or modulating the average index of the poled structure. Changing the average index changes the momentum vector of the light photons without changing the momentum vector of the virtual photon contributed by the grating. After the change in average index, the old reflection frequency is no longer optimally phase matched for reflection; the peak reflectivity has moved to a new frequency.

A frequency modulated (FM) laser may be constructed using the configurations described in reference to FIGS. 55 and 56 with the addition of changing the average index of refraction as described in reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. By modulation, we mean changed as a function of some parameter which is time in this case, as in pulsed with a high or low duty cycle, sinusoidally varied, or varied with any arbitrary temporal dependence. A control system may be supplied to control the voltages and supply the currents needed to apply the desired temporal variations in electric field.

Typically, the reflectivity of a grating required for optimal feedback for a semiconductor laser is less than 10%. The remaining light can be used for output. The laser can be forced to operate in either the TM or TE polarization, depending on the confinement of the optical beam in the waveguide on the grating chip, the dispersion in the grating, and the relative gain of the two polarizations in the gain element. Since the strength of the grating is controllable, the reflectivity can be adjusted to optimize the output coupling of the laser to maximize the output power.

Similarly, the grating can be used to form reflectors of a passive or buildup cavity. Since the coupling of a laser beam to a cavity depends on the relative reflectivity of the input coupler compared to the cavity losses, a variable reflectivity input coupler provides a means to optimize this parameter, and thus impedance match the resonator.

In a cavity, this invention can also be used for single pulse switching, mode-locking, or cavity dumping, with little or no chirping for lower power CW sources, such as semiconductor lasers. In addition, the tuning potential enables the laser to be used as a source for communications, spectroscopy, and remote sensing.

FIG. 57 shows a selectable wavelength laser 1490 controlled by an array of switches. The laser is preferably a diode laser 1474 with waveguide 1476 butt coupled to a waveguide 1472 in a substrate 1461. The surfaces 1475 and 1477 are preferably AR coated so that the optical amplifier 1474 will not lase from the reflectivity of its own facets. The substrate may be any substrate capable of supporting the switches 1492, which may be implemented in a variety of ways including the TIR switches of FIGS. 30-32 and 34-35, the grating switch structures of FIGS. 7-8 and 12-13, the couplers of FIGS. 10 and 26-28, the splitters of FIGS. 23, 25, 33, and 46-48, or any of the other optical waveguide switch structures now known or yet to be discovered. The TIR switches 1492 have been sufficiently described above that we indicate their presence only schematically in this diagram. In their on position, these switches reroute the optical energy from the amplifier down the one of the waveguides 1494 that is associated with the switch.

A retroreflector array 1496 is disposed in the waveguides, here shown as a grating. The grating reflects the incident light at a specific frequency, and the laser lases within the bandwidth of the grating. The grating elements are shown directed towards a somewhat distant point 1498 so that the periods of the gratings farther from the laser are progressively shorter. The reflection spectra of the gratings is therefore essentially identical but shifted to shorter and shorter wavelengths. By selecting the switch 1492 associated with the desired grating period, the desired frequency of operation of the laser can be selected. The optical frequency is determined by the geometry, and linearly spaced optical wavelengths may be obtained with a constant switch separation. If desired, any wavelength spacing within the packing density capability of the arrangement may be chosen. A large number of switches may be disposed along the waveguide 1472 because of the low insertion loss of the TIR switches and their high packing density. The tilted output waveguides also pack together very compactly.

An output beam may be extracted from the rear surface of the optical amplifier 1474 as beam 1489, or it may be extracted from the waveguide 1472 as beam 1488 since the TIR switches will leak a fraction of the laser light along the waveguide 1472. Many alternative configurations such as are described in reference to FIG. 56 are also relevant to this configuration. For instance, the reflector array 1496 may consist of permanent gratings fabricated by a large number of techniques, or switched gratings. It may consist of a uniform grating structure in which the different optical path lengths to the grating select a different FSR for the laser cavity, producing single mode operation at a selectable array of very narrowly spaced spectral peaks. It may even consist of an array of permanent mirrors along the waveguides 1494 which might be coated for high reflection or variable wavelength reflection. Again, the differing separation of the mirrors provides the opportunity to adjust the laser cavity path length switchably over a large range.

A subset of the structure of FIG. 57 is a modulator using an adjustable optical energy redirector 1492, and one of the feedback reflectors 1496 in one of the waveguides 1494. If the waveguide 1472 is configured not to reflect, as by for example tapering its width to zero following the redirector 1492, the laser again is forced to lase with the feedback afforded by the reflector 1496. By adjusting the amount of optical energy which is fed back through the excitation of the redirector 1492, the laser output characteristics can be controlled. The laser power may be modulated in this way, in which case the reflector 1496 may be a fixed grating or even a broadband fixed mirror. With the grating reflector, there is the advantage of a fixed frequency so that the laser power can be modulated deeply without frequency shifts, producing almost pure amplitude modulation. If the redirector 1492 is modulated at an integer multiple of the cavity round trip time, the device is a mode locker and produces a pulsed output. The round trip time is the time taken by a coaxially aligned pulse to return to its original position and direction within the cavity. By using different switches the cavity length can be varied to vary the pulse separation. By using two different switches simultaneously, it is also possible to discriminate against the intermediate pulses which tend to grow with mode locking frequencies at a high order multiple of the round trip time. Frequency modulation can be obtained by modulating the central frequency of the reflector. In this case, the reflector 1496 should preferably be implemented as a tunable grating such as is described in FIGS. 14-22.

FIG. 58 shows a wavelength tuned adjustable focusing system 1550. The combination of a diffractive focusing element 1552 such as the zone plate lens of FIG. 54 (or a fixed diffractive lens such as an opaque or an etched zone plate) with a tunable light source 1554 offers important new capability in the field of data storage. When a zone plate is combined with an adjustable frequency light source, the distance to the focus is adjusted by tuning the light source. This capability is useful for multilayer data storage devices where the data is read from and written to data planes 1556 stacked at various distances into the data storage medium 1558. If the wavelength of the light source is tuned (as we have described above by various means), the distance from the zone plate to the focus is adjusted correspondingly. This change of focus by wavelength change allows both instantaneous tracking of the optical data storage surface of a distorted disk by analog wavelength change, and selection of the desired data surface with random access to the various stacked planes 1556 by discrete changes in the light wavelength.

The frequency tunable laser of choice for driving the multiplane data storage system is a laser system based on a semiconductor diode laser 1560 with tuning based on feedback from an electronically tunable grating 1562 such as we have described above. The laser may also be frequency doubled in a quasi phasematched section 1564, in which case use of an angle broadened poled grating is the preferred method of rendering the acceptance of the doubler broad enough to accept significant tuning of the source laser. Lens system 1566 collimates and makes round the laser output in preparation for the final focus in the zone plate lens 1552.

The lens system 1566 is not necessary since a zone plate can also refocus a diverging beam. However, it is desirable to achieve a round beam through the zone plate because this will produce the smallest spot size and therefore the highest density data reading/writing capability. The devices 1562, 1564, and 1566 may be implemented in waveguides on the same substrate if desired, and in combination with one of the out-of-plane reflectors described above, can be integrated with zone plate lenses on the rear surface of the substrate to achieve a small and lightweight unit capable of rapid actuation in a data storage system.

a. General Description of the Display

A major application area for the switching technology according to the invention is in the field of optical displays, particularly emissive optical displays. A general block diagram of a display device 1001 is shown in FIG. 59 with a section along line A--A shown in FIG. 60. An optical frequency source means, or light source, for generating visible or infrared light from source 1000 is intensity modulated by an optical beam modulator 1002. Visual information is thus encoded as a time varying intensity of the light beam. This modulated light beam is coupled using the coupling device 1004 into an optical waveguide 1006, hereafter referred to as the "distribution waveguide," that is fabricated in the surface or on top of the surface of a suitable substrate material 1028 by various methods known to the art.

The distribution waveguide 1006 abuts at least one optical waveguide 1014, hereafter referred to as the "pixel waveguides," at angle that is large enough to separate the pixel and distribution waveguides in a suitable length. This angle is preferably shown in FIG. 59 as 90°. An array of substantially parallel pixel waveguides form the rows for the display.

The distribution waveguide and the pixel waveguides are coupled in the intersection region by an optical beam routing structure, formed by an array of optical energy routers 1008. An optical energy router is any active or passive method that causes the light propagating in the distribution waveguide to be routed or switched into a desired pixel waveguide. Examples of passive optical energy routers include directional waveguide couplers, branching waveguides, grating couplers, star couplers, mode splitters, and Bragg grating reflectors. Active optical energy routers operate on electro-optic, acousto-optic or thermo-optic principles. Examples of optical energy routers include voltage activated directional couplers, total internal reflection (TIR) switches, the branching-waveguide switch, a Bragg-grating deflection type of switch, various types of electro-optical switches that operate on the mode conversion principle, polarization control switches such as TE-TM mode converters combined with a passive polarization mode splitter, acousto-optic switching devices such as SAW filters and modulators, and any of the patterned poled switching structures disclosed herein. The preferred embodiment uses an active optical beam router based on a variant of the TIR switch. A fixed mirror such as that illustrated in FIG. 32 may be included with the optical beam router to preferably make the intersection angle between the distribution and pixel waveguides 90°. This optical beam router is hereafter referred to as the "distribution switch."

Once the light is propagating in the pixel waveguide, it can be routed to a desired point on the surface of substrate 1028, hereafter referred to as the "pixel location" or simply the "pixel," by turning on an electrically-controllable optical energy redirector, 1016, hereafter referred to as the "pixel switch." The pixel switch is an active switching component (or alternatively a passive energy redirector), using operating principles discussed above. Examples of pixel switches include voltage activated directional couplers, total internal reflection (TIR) switches, the branching-waveguide switch, a Bragg-grating deflection type of switch, various types of electro-optical switches that operate on the mode conversion principle, polarization control switches such as the switchable TE-TM mode converter combined with a passive polarization mode splitter, the cut-off switch, the liquid crystal waveguide switch, acousto-optic switching devices such as SAW filters and modulators, any other of the waveguide tap methods previously disclosed in the prior art, and any of the patterned poled switching structures disclosed herein. The preferred embodiment for the pixel switch is based on a variant of the TIR switch.

The beam propagating in the pixel waveguide 1014 is rerouted by the pixel switch 1016 into an output waveguide segment 1017, here after referred to as the "reflector waveguide," to a desired pixel location on the surface of the substrate. The reflector waveguide can consist of short or long segments of a two dimensional waveguide, a planar waveguide, or a free-space propagation segment in the bulk substrate.

The optical energy, or light, is then projected out of the plane of the substrate surface toward the viewer using an optical reflector means 1018, here after called the "out-of-plane reflector," that is fabricated in or on the surface of the substrate. The out of plane reflector can be any one of a number of micromirrors or scattering pits whose function is to direct a portion of the light previously propagating in the output waveguide out of the waveguide plane. The light emitted toward the viewer from each of these miniature reflectors 1018 constitutes a "pixel" of information from the display, and reflector 1018 will hereafter be referred to interchangeably with the term "pixel." In FIG. 59, we illustrate a pixel 1019 that is turned on, while pixels 1018 are turned off. The array of pixels is organized in a general row and column arrangement. Each pixel can be independently addressed by its row and column label. This array of pixels constitutes the display.

After the light leaves the surface of the substrate, it impinges on an optional diffusing screen 1026 that converts the approximately forward propagating beam of light into a more diffuse beam of light that has a distribution of propagation angles relative to the normal of the substrate surface, such that a viewer can observe the light at a polar angle θ to the surface normal. If the beams emerging from the display have a near Lambertian angular distribution, the display will appear to be equally bright at all polar angles θ from 0 to 90° independent of the azimuthal angle. Other angular distributions can be constructed to achieve different viewing angle specifications. The diffusing screen 1026 can alternately be constructed as a separate optical element.

Images are formed on the display by activating the distribution (or column) switches and the pixel (or row) switches in a timed sequence such that the light emitted by the reflectors forms a "raster scan," similar to the method by which the electron beam is scanned in a standard cathode ray tube (CRT). The distribution switches and the pixel switches are connected via an electrode structure to a field creating means. This means can be any type of voltage generator, such as a DC power supply, a battery, or an electronic circuit, called the drive electronics, that produces enough voltage to turn on the switch. The distribution switches 1008 are activated by column switch drive electronics 1010 that are coupled to the electrodes of the distribution switches 1008. The pixel switches 1016 are activated by the row drive electronics 1012 that are coupled to the pixel electrode structure 1020.

During the raster scan, the intensity of the light source is modulated in sequence with the pixel switches turning on such that each pixel receives an intensity appropriate to its spatial location in the image. An example of a format for the display information would be any standardized video format. In the simplest configuration, a "frame" of information is formed as the location of the active pixel 1019 (the pixel from which light is being emitted) is scanned from left to right, one row at a time from the top of the screen to the bottom, and the inverse of the time that it takes to scan all of the pixel locations is called the "frame rate".

This display differs from standard CRT displays since the light from the emitting pixel does not persist for longer than the pixel switch is turned on. For a high information content display that has a pixel format of 640×480 pixels and a frame rate of 80 Hz, this time is shorter than 50 ns. At refresh rates above about 80 Hz, the sensitivity of the eye to flicker drops rapidly, even in the more sensitive regions of peripheral vision.

One embodiment of the invention is a full color display. This is achieved by incorporating into the light source 1000 three intense sources operating at different central wavelengths (colors). Optimally, the sources are based on diode lasers which are used to generate light at or near 630 nm, 530 nm, and 470 nm. Waveguides 1006 and 1014 can be designed to support the propagation of these different wavelengths, as can the switches 1008 and 1016. One additional feature is added to the light source 1000, namely, a coupling device to combine the output of three lasers into one waveguide so they can henceforth be manipulated in a single set of waveguides and switches. The details of additional features are described below.

Note that the laser enters the display in FIG. 59 from the lower right because the frame is scanned beginning from the upper left. Within a frame, the individual columns are switched on in a sequence with the switch closer to the laser being turned on next. The rise time of the switches is fast, redirecting the light into the newly selected waveguide independent of any charge which may remain on the previous electrode. This has the advantage that the fall time of the switches does not influence the pixel rate, permitting a fall time substantially longer than the rise time. Indeed, a long fall time can be used with energy recovery from the electrodes in order to minimize power consumption. The order of excitation of the rows is the same (progressing towards the laser) for similar reasons. If the fall time is larger than the rise time, a delay must be incorporated in the display scan at the end of every row, to allow all the distribution switches to reach their low loss condition, permitting the light to pass through to the first pixel in the row. This delay should be several times the decay time of the distribution switches. Similarly, at the end of the frame, a delay should be incorporated, sufficient to allow time for the pixel switches to relax.

Since a specific embodiment of this general display architecture can be constructed using a number of different versions of each of the general components (1000-1028) described in FIG. 59, we give below a detailed description of the variants of these components, and indicate which variant would be selected for the preferred embodiment of the invention.

b. Light Source

Any light source 1000 that can be coupled into a waveguide can act as an optical exciter for the display. The light source may have any wavelength in the visible, ultraviolet, or infrared region of the spectrum, and may have a single or multiple emission regions. Examples of single emission region optical exciters include any type of laser, light emitting diodes (LEDs), and high brightness small volume incandescent and fluorescent sources. Examples of multiple emission region light sources include arrays of lasers or LEDs, line or two-dimensional light distribution areas of incandescent and fluorescent sources. A semiconductor diode laser source, hereafter referred to as a "diode laser," is a solid state laser used in the preferred embodiment for a number of reasons. First, a laser source can be coupled to a waveguide with the highest efficiency of any light source, thus minimizing the electrical power necessary to operate the display. Second, the diode laser is an efficient converter of electrical power to optical power, again minimizing the display power requirements. Third, the diode is fabricated using semiconductor processing technology thus allowing a low cost light source to be incorporated into the display.

Diode lasers are commercially available in the visible at wavelengths longer than 620 nm that can be used for red monochrome display applications. To achieve a full color display, wavelengths in the green (optimally near 530 nm) and in the blue (optimally near 470 nm) are also needed. Light sources at these wavelengths can be derived from infrared diode lasers by using nonlinear optical device known to the art as a frequency doubler means. A frequency doubler means is any method by which the wavelength from the light source is divided by two (the light source frequency is doubled). Examples of frequency doublers include bulk nonlinear crystals such as KDP, LiNbO₃, KTP, LiTaO₃, SBN, and BaTiO₃, and nonlinear waveguide structures fabricated in the previous bulk doubler crystals, or using nonlinear poled polymer waveguides. In the preferred embodiment, the frequency doubler is a periodically poled structure, known to the art, fabricated from a nonlinear optical periodically polable material such as the ferroelectric crystals of LiNbO₃, KTP, LiTaO₃, SBN, and BaTiO₃. Since the display substrate material can also be fabricated from these materials, an the display and doubler could be integrated into a single wafer.

Using this frequency doubler, for example, diode lasers operating at 1060 nm can be doubled to achieve green at 530 nm, and a diode laser operating at 940 nm can be doubled to achieve 470 nm. Efficiencies of the doubling process have been demonstrated in the laboratory to exceed 50%. All visible wavelengths required for the display can be achieved using this technique.

Diode pumped solid state lasers can also be used as the light source for this display. Compact green diode-pumped lasers are commercially available, and blue diode pumped sources have been demonstrated in the laboratory. Examples of diode pumped sources include frequency doubled fiber lasers, upconversion lasers, and frequency doubled diode pumped YAG, YLF, and other doped crystalline host laser materials.

Direct visible solid state semiconductor lasers or amplifiers operating in the blue and green, fabricated from semiconductor materials such as zinc selenide (and potentially gallium nitride), exist in the laboratory today and could become the preferred light source for the display if the lifetime is increased and these sources become commercialized.

In the preferred embodiment, the lasers and frequency doublers are mounted on a separate substrate from the display. The assembly is then coupled to a waveguide in the display wafer using either fiber optic coupling or butt coupling known to the art. Separating the two subassemblies increases the yield of the individual units. The lasers may be butt-coupled to the doubler chip or flip-chip mounted in an etched groove on the chip. Butt coupling is robust, requires no additional components, and is compatible with automated alignment techniques. A waveguide taper in depth and width is preferably used in the doubler chip (or alternatively the diode laser chip) to match the laser mode size to the doubler waveguide size in order to optimize the coupling efficiency. A depth taper can be achieved in the doubler chip with two waveguide fabrication steps. The first step produces the deep waveguides and the taper, while the second step produces the shallow waveguides that connect to the taper. By this means the laser can be efficiently coupled to the single mode doubler waveguide. As an alternative, the laser diodes may be directly coupled to the same substrate as the display. This allows the frequency doublers, feedback stabilizing elements, wavelength combiners, and other components to be integrated into the same wafer. The direct coupling approach has a cost advantage if the yield is high.

c. Modulators

The optical beam modulator 1002 is a device that can vary the intensity of the laser with a frequency response (or bandwidth) sufficient for a perceptually adequate display. The optimum bandwidth is greater than the pixel scan rate. This frequency response exceeds 25 MHZ for a 640×480 pixel VGA display with 80 Hz update rate. The modulator also optimally has the capability of reproducing a multiplicity of grey scale intensity levels. The modulator is preferably fabricated on the same chip as the frequency doubler. Several different types of optical beam modulators are known to the art that can meet the above requirements. The first method is to modulate the diode laser intensity by modulating the electrical current powering the diode laser. Since the frequency of the diode laser gain spectrum also varies with current, such modulation is accompanied with frequency variation. If the diode laser is used to directly illuminate the display as may be the case with a red AlGaInP diode, such frequency modulation is not a problem because it is imperceptible to the eye. However, if the output power of the diode laser is driving a frequency doubling section to make the green or blue beams, such frequency modulation is a problem due to the narrowness (within a factor of 100 or so of 0.1 nm, depending on the architecture and design parameters of the doubler) of the acceptance of the doubling efficiency curve as a function of pump laser frequency. In the latter case, the diode laser operation frequency must be stabilized within the doubler acceptance range, although it is not required to operate in a single frequency mode. (Indeed multimode operation increases the conversion efficiency.) Frequency stabilization can be achieved using the technique of external grating feedback (or other methods known to the art) in combination with electronic feed back control loops. The grating is preferably integrated into the waveguide using techniques such as masked etching or indiffusion known to the art. The grating center frequency is dithered either electro-optically or thermally, and the intensity of the frequency doubled power is monitored using a photodiode. The frequency component of the photodiode signal at the dither frequency is used as the error signal which is input to the electronic feedback loop to control the diode laser frequency. The laser frequency is thereby made to match the optimal wavelength necessary to obtain efficient frequency doubling, producing visible light. With external grating stabilization (and sufficient suppression of spurious reflections back into the diode laser), it is still possible to use the modulation technique of varying the diode laser current because the frequency is now controlled by the grating feedback. It is an important advantage to be able to modulate the diode laser current because this technique minimizes the power consumption in the laser.

A second modulation method is to fabricate an independent modulator (possibly in the substrate 1028) using modulator designs known to the art. An example of a standard modulator design is the Mach-Zehnder interferometric modulator. Any of the electro-optic switches previously described could also act as the modulation device 1002. The preferred embodiment uses the internally reflecting optical switch illustrated in FIG. 30 as the modulator because it is compact, is fabricated using the same poling techniques as the TIR switches 1008 and 1016, and has an output intensity versus voltage relationship that is well-matched for digital gray scale modulation. The gray levels of the pixels are approximately linearly related to the input voltage of the switch when the output beam is the reflected output of the switch.

d. Light Coupling Device

The light coupling device 1004 couples the light from the light source 1000 into the distribution waveguide 1006. There are a number of different techniques known to the art that can achieve a high coupling efficiency. Examples of these techniques known to the art include bulk lens optical beam trains, butt coupling of the laser diodes to the substrate 1028, and fiber coupling the laser source to the substrate. The preferred embodiment is fiber coupling because it is efficient and inexpensive while allowing the diode laser sources 1000 and modulator 1002 to be independently fabricated and packaged. Thus the light source package can be mounted off the panel substrate 1028, separating the issues limiting the yield in manufacturing the laser from those limiting the display panel yield. The laser source 1000 has its light output in a fiber "pigtail" to enable coupling of the light source to the display panel. The fiber pigtail is coupled to the distribution waveguide 1006 using standard techniques known to the art.

In the preferred embodiment of the full color version of the display invention, three laser sources are packaged together and coupled into one waveguide using a three color beam combiner, preferably the grating-assisted coupler as illustrated in FIG. 61. The beam combiner couples the red laser beam 1050, the green laser beam 1052, and the blue laser beam 1054 into the same waveguide 1044, while creating minimal loss for the light already propagating in the waveguide 1044. This coupling achieves the combined laser output 1056 which is then coupled into the waveguide 1006. The red laser beam 1050 is coupled from waveguide 1042 to waveguide 1044 using evanescent waveguide coupling with a fixed index, relief, or poled grating 1056 to match the propagation parameters of the input mode 1050 in waveguide 1042 into waveguide 1044 at the red wavelength. The blue laser beam 1054 is coupled from waveguide 1046 to waveguide 1044 using evanescent waveguide coupling with a fixed index, relief, or poled grating 1058 to match the propagation parameters of the input mode 1054 in waveguide 1046 into waveguide 1044 at the blue wavelength. This is a standard technique known to the art which can be used to efficiently combine the power in three waveguides into one waveguide. Further discussion of grating assisted parallel waveguide couplers is given above in reference to FIG. 10, which has a poled grating. Grating-assisted couplers typically have a bandwidth that is much narrower than the separation of the three color wavelengths so that the power in each of the three color beams can be independently controlled and optimized. The grating-assisted coupler is thus ideally suited for high-efficiency combining of the three-color beams into the same waveguide.

The three-color grating-assisted coupler 1040 is preferably implemented on the same substrate chip as the frequency doublers for the blue and green sources, with the modulators for the blue and the green sources. The three diode laser sources are preferably all coupled to the same chip. In addition, there may be another modulator placed after the beam combiner, also possibly on the same chip, to apply bias correction to all three colors simultaneously. Bias correction is the intensity modulation required to compensate for the systematic variation in optical power droop experienced between the combiner and the various pixels due to the different lengths of lossy waveguide traversed by the beam in exciting the different pixels.

e. Substrate Material

The substrate material 1028 for the display 1001 is a solid material that is any electro-optically active material that can be fabricated flat enough to maintain photolithographic tolerances across the display screen area. The distribution (and pixel) waveguides and switches are fabricated either in or on top of this substrate material. In the preferred embodiment, the electro-optic TIR switches are formed by a poling process, so either the substrate or a thin film on the substrate must be a polable electro-optically active material. Examples of suitable electro-optically active solid materials are substrates formed from wafers of bulk ferroelectric crystals, such as LiNbO₃, KTP, LiTaO₃, SBN, and BaTiO₃, thin films of poled electro-optic polymers on top of a suitable supporting material, such as glass or plastics, and thin films of ferroelectric crystalline materials such as LiNbO₃, KTP, and LiTaO₃ on top of a suitable supporting material such as a bulk crystalline substrate that is structured to allow for single-crystal film growth.

The preferred embodiment uses wafers of lithium niobate 1028 (LiNbO₃). LiNbO₃ has been grown in boules up to 6 inches in diameter, is a well characterized electro-optically active material, and, except for silicon, has the lowest cost of all bulk large diameter crystalline materials.

f. Distribution and Pixel Waveguide Structure

In the preferred embodiment, a single distribution waveguide 1006 connects to all of the pixel waveguides, with distribution switches used to couple light from the distribution guide to the pixel guides. In general, a coupling means, is any method by which light is rerouted from the distribution waveguide to the pixel waveguide. In alternate embodiments, multiple distribution waveguides could be used to for a bus of distribution waveguides. The pixel waveguides are parallel, filling the entire display area, while the distribution waveguide is at a large angle, such as 90°, to the pixel waveguides, and adjacent to one edge of the display screen.

The waveguide parameters (width, depth, and index change Δn) are chosen so that the waveguide supports at least a single mode for all three colors. The shortest wavelength guided beam (470 nm) is only 25% shorter wavelength than the longest wavelength beam (630 nm), so that the waveguide might be chosen to support only the lowest order mode for all three colors in the same waveguide. Multi-mode guides can also be used, but the higher radiation losses associated with these waveguides require a higher input power, and increase the background haze (flare) of the screen.

The waveguides used in the invention are fabricated in an electro-optic material, such as one of the substrate materials defined above. In the preferred embodiment the waveguides are fabricated in LiNbO₃ using the standard annealed proton exchange process (APE). An alternate waveguide fabrication process in LiNbO₃ that can be used is the titanium indiffusion process. Either or both of these waveguide fabrication processes can be used in the fabrication of the switch described by FIG. 30. Other substrate materials may use different waveguide fabrication processes known to the art for those materials.

g. Distribution Switch

The key requirement for the distribution switch 1008 is that it has near zero loss when it is turned off. This is required for the display application since the guided light beam should preferably not suffer any significant loss while propagating through several hundred distribution switches, in order to get enough power to the last distribution switch in the distribution waveguide. The preferred embodiment uses the TIR reflection switch along with the poled waveguide segment previously discussed in FIG. 30 to achieve this requirement. The other key specification is that the distribution switch must bend the light by approximately 90° to allow fabrication of a large display area within a minimal wafer size. A near 90° in-plane micromirror reflector, also called a fixed mirror, is used in combination with the switch of FIG. 30 as shown in the portion of FIG. 36 including the input waveguide 984, switch 985, micromirror 977, and output waveguide 986 (the asymmetric loss waveguide cross 997 and additional switch 983 and waveguide 982 are not necessary in the simplest display architecture). When the TIR switch 985 is off, the poled region is completely transparent, and the beam continues along the distribution waveguide. When a voltage is placed on the TIR switch electrodes described in FIG. 30, the light is transferred from waveguide 984 into the pixel waveguide 986 with low loss. The fabrication technique for the preferred embodiment of the micromirror 977 is described above in reference to FIG. 36.

Alternative switching approaches may also be used to route the optical power into, out of, and between waveguides. The TIR switches of FIG. 30-32, or 34-36 might be used, or the guided wave switches of FIGS. 33, 46 and 47. Prior art alternatives such as the unpoled electro-optic TIR switch may be substituted for the poled TIR switch or the guided wave switches. The grating switches of FIGS. 7, 12, and 13, are also useful alternatives. Prior art switches such as the interdigitated electrode unpoled electro-optic switch may be substituted for the gratings. The four-port switches of FIGS. 8, 12, and 13 may be useful in some special configurations, as might the out-of-plane switch 168 of FIG. 9 or the waveguide coupler switches of FIGS. 10 and 26-28. The retroreflecting switches of FIGS. 2-6, 14-17, 19 and 21-23, might be useful in combination with upstream splitters to direct a portion of the retroreflected light into an output waveguide. Other switching techniques including those in the prior art (or yet to be invented) may also be used, as long as these techniques couple a reasonably large fraction of the power propagating in a distribution waveguide (or a pixel waveguide) into a pixel waveguide (or an out-of-plane reflector).

h. Pixel Switch

The pixel switches 1016 form a two-dimensional array (defined as an arbitrary pattern of spatial points organized into generalized rows and columns, preferably orthogonally oriented, that can be independently addressed) across the flat panel screen. The key requirement for the pixel switch 1016 is similar to the distribution switch requirement in that it has near zero loss when it is turned off. The preferred embodiment therefore uses the switchable total internal reflector that has been previously discussed in reference to FIGS. 30-32 to achieve the required low loss operation. This switch is used to reroute the optical power from the pixel waveguide and direct it into the reflector waveguide and toward the out-of-plane reflector. An alternate embodiment would use the switchable grating reflector discussed in reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

i. Out-of-plane Reflector

By "out-of-plane reflector" 1018, also referred to as an optical reflector means, we mean any generalized mechanism for changing the direction of propagation of the light from the surface plane to any direction, including a component of the surface normal, and therefore propagating away from the surface plane. The basic elements of the out-of-plane reflector include an optical energy reflection boundary that has an index of refraction discontinuity across a surface transverse to the path of the optical beam. Materials that scatter or convert the wavelength of the optical beam may also be included as part of the out-of-plane reflector. Examples of "out-of-plane reflectors" include specular mirrors, scattering pits and coupling gratings, and wavelength-converting phosphor targets.

To direct a beam from the pixel switch to the out-of-plane reflector with low loss, an output waveguide segment 1017, hereafter referred to as the "reflector waveguide," may be required. The out-of-plane reflectors may be placed anywhere on the reflector waveguide since that waveguide segment is short, extending at most from one pixel waveguide to the adjacent one. The reflector location may be optimized to minimize the amount of reflected background light, thereby maximizing the contrast ratio. A major source of background light is scatter off the waveguide wall roughness. If the out-of plane reflectors are close to the waveguides, they will subtend a larger solid angle of this scattered light, and produce a "flare" or background illumination at the pixel even when the pixel is not addressed by the waveguide switching system. Minimum flare is obtained at a mirror location placed approximately midway between the pixel waveguides, where a large portion of the waveguide scattered light has transmitted below the level of the surface waveguides and reflectors, and into the substrate. At this location, the contributions to the flare from two adjacent waveguides are approximately equal.

Referring to FIGS. 62 through 67 there are shown several embodiments for the out-of-plane reflector 1018. The out-of-plane reflector is a permanent structure; the activated pixel is selected by the two-dimensional array of pixel switches. FIG. 62 shows a cross-section of a TIR out-of-plane reflector 1100 with the output directed through the substrate. A 90° turning mirror 1108 reflects the input beam 1110 into the output beam 1104 through the substrate 1101 toward the rear surface 1112. The mirror 1108 can achieve total internal reflection or it can function as a good reflector with a suitable reflective coating. A diffusing screen 1026 or optionally a phosphor layer 1113 may be coated on the surface 1112. A pixel beam 1110 exiting the pixel switch, and incident on the turning mirror preferably propagates in a reflector waveguide 1017 or 1102. The waveguide confines the beam in two dimensions to produce a beam spot on the mirror which matches the waveguide mode. In the region immediately surrounding the mirror, the beam need not be confined by a waveguide, or it may be confined in a planar waveguide at the surface of the crystal. In the case of 100% waveguide packing density, permanent channel waveguides cannot be formed. A planar waveguide is desirable in this situation, or the input beam 1110 may propagate directly from the poled TIR switch without being confined by a waveguide in the intervening region.

The mirror is preferably flat, and the input beam reflects from the specular mirror at 45° incidence, emerging into the substrate normal to the surface of the crystal. The reflected beam diverges according to standard Gaussian beam propagation theory to produce a spot on the bottom surface 1112 of the substrate. A 4 μm diameter spot at the mirror will produce a 36 μm diameter spot at the back surface of a 0.5 mm thick lithium niobate crystal.

The preferred embodiment overlaps the 1/e² intensity beam diameters of each pixel on the diffusing screen 1026. If substrate 1100 is too thin to achieve this overlap, the substrate 1100 may be mounted on an optically transparent supporting material of the appropriate thickness to achieve the desired overlap. Examples of supporting materials include glass, plastic and silicon dioxide. Alternately, the full overlapping of the 1/e² spot size can be achieved on the lower lithium niobate surface if the mirror surface 1108 is not flat, but has the appropriate radius of curvature to expand the 1/e² diameter to the desired size, or if the mirror itself is produced with sufficient roughness to diffuse the beam to the desired size on the screen 1026. Another embodiment has bottom surface 1112 coated with an optional phosphor or dye layer 1113 which would radiate with the desired display color after excitation by light channeled by the waveguides and out-of-plane reflector. A phosphor layer, for example, would also eliminate the need for a separate diffusing screen.

The turning mirror 1108 illustrated in FIG. 62 can be fabricated using a variety of techniques including laser ablation, reactive ion etching (RIE), reactive ion beam etching (RIBE), ion beam milling, and wet etching. The preferred technique for fabrication is the wet etch, which is described as follows. A chromium mask is transferred to the material using standard photolithographic techniques. The lithium niobate substrate is then placed in a bath of hydrofluoric acid for a few hours at a temperature around 80° C. Care is taken to severely limit the agitation of the bath during the etch. The low mass transport at the bottom of the etch pit limits the etching rate, while the etch rate is faster at the edges due to the higher mass transport of the etched ions at this location. Many materials have some natural preference to etch along natural planes, so if the angled turning mirror face is aligned to one of these natural planes, the resultant etched surface will have lower residual roughness.

As an alternative fabrication technique, the slope of the etch wall can be controlled with a mask that is etching at the same time as the sample. By sloping the features of the mask at the edge of the mirror, a related slope can be transferred to the substrate during the etch. The feature geometry can be controlled by varying the mask, the composition of the etch and the agitation rate.

The shape of the etch pit can also be controlled by changing the composition of the region to be etched by proton exchange or poling. A proton-exchanged region in lithium niobate is known to etch faster than the virgin crystal. By annealing the proton-exchanged substrate, the etch rate is varied transverse of the exchanged feature so that the etching process produces a sloped surface. By adjusting the amount of proton exchange and the temperature of the anneal, the exact shape of this surface can be modified.

The mirror can also be formed by pulsed laser ablation. The substrate material is masked by a reflective material, such as aluminum for an excimer laser source. The collimated laser beam is directed at an angle of 45° with respect to the surface of the substrate to produce an angled facet by shadowing. The laser beam forms either a small spot which covers a single mirror at a time, or it forms a line, in which case the beam is scanned across a row of mirrors at a time. The duration of and energy in each laser pulse may be chosen in order to minimize the roughness of the interface material to produce a specular mirror, after which the mirror may be smoothed with a light hydrofluoric acid etch.

The mirror can be formed in a similar manner with ion beam milling or possibly RIBE. The collimated ion source must be removed at a distance from the sample so the sample can be mounted at 45° with respect to the beam. This type of etch also forms a rough surface which may be smoothed with a hydrofluoric acid etch if desired. Any combination of the above techniques may also be used to advantage to obtain better control or faster production of the reflectors.

The mirror and waveguide in FIG. 62 are preferably protected with an overcoat of an optically transmitting layer of a low index material 1106, such as aluminum oxide. The material has a low enough index that the mirror total internally reflects over the angular bandwidth of the reflection for the three colors of the display. For a lithium niobate substrate overcoated with aluminum oxide, total internal reflection occurs for angles of incidence greater than about 36°. If the surface 1108 is not a TIR reflector, it may be high reflection coated by conventional techniques.

FIG. 63 shows an alternative embodiment for an out-of-plane reflector in which the light propagating in waveguide 1102 is scattered by a pit in the crystal. The scattering pit 1116 combines the functions of the mirror and diffuser screen. In this embodiment, the light from each pixel is scattered into the substrate to exit the opposite face of the crystal. Preferably, the principal cone angle 1114 of scattered light does not exceed the 36° TIR angle, so that most of the light exits the substrate toward the viewer. The lower face can be antireflection-coated to reduce optical power losses due to reflection.

The scattering pit 1116 is preferably formed by an agitated wet etching process. The mean pit angle at its edge is preferably about 45° so that the guided beam 1110 is scattered with a central scattered angle near normal to the surface of the substrate. The convexity of the pit in the plane containing the waveguide and the surface normal is optimally adjusted so that the desired range of viewing angles external to the substrate is obtained. Since the pit is circular or elliptical in the plane of the surface, light scattered from the sides of the waveguide 1102 are also diverged in the plane orthogonal to the plane of the section. The curvature of the pit in the plane of the surface can be adjusted independently from the above mentioned convexity, thereby achieving a roughly square pixel area. If the pit surface is substantially rough, the additional divergence contributed by diffusion of the light reduces the two optimal curvatures discussed above. Since the desired cone angle of the scattered light 1114 is large, the surface of the pit can be roughened by the agitated etching process (or by increasing the temperature of the etch), thus forming the desired diffuse reflecting surface. As an alternative, the pit may be fabricated using laser or ion-beam ablation. An optional absorbing layer 1168 is shown at the rear surface for improving the contrast ratio by preferentially absorbing grazing incidence background light. The absorption of the layer to the normal incidence beam 1104 or 1114 is preferably lower than about 50% so as not to carry too high a brightness penalty.

FIG. 64 shows an alternate embodiment of the out-of-plane reflector, in which the input beam is reflected out of the top surface of the crystal. The mirror 1126 consists of a reflector structure with one flat 45° sloped wall and one vertical wall between which material has been removed from the substrate. The input beam 1110 enters the reflector structure at the vertical interface 1122 and propagates across the structure where it reflects off the 45° sloped wall. The reflected beam 1124 exits the top surface of the substrate to illuminate the diffusing screen. This reflector structure may be fabricated in the same way as the structure described in FIG. 62. To optimize the reflection of the surface 1126, it may be overcoated with a reflective coating such as aluminum. The coating should be applied at an angle 1121 less than 90° so that the surface 1122 is in shadow, and therefore not coated. The normal surface 1122 should preferably be antireflection coated, which can be achieved by holding the substrate 1100 at an angle during the coating process so that the surfaces 1122 are exposed. Finally, the sample may be coated with an optically transmitting layer 1106 such as silicon dioxide or aluminum oxide. The surface 1126 may be rough and/or curved to enhance the divergence of the light emitted therefrom.

FIG. 65 shows an alternate embodiment for coupling out of the plane of the crystal, in which a scattering pit directs the light out of the top face of the crystal. As in the case of FIG. 64, the input beam 1110 transmits though a vertical interface into a reflector structure, and scatters off a curved scattering interface on the opposite side of the etched region. The scattered beam 1134 which emerges through any coating 1106 preferably has a Lambertian distribution for a full viewing cone of 2π steradian. The requirements for the angle of incidence of the beam and the shape of the curvature are identical to that of the scattering pit into the substrate in FIG. 63.

FIG. 66 gives an alternate embodiment for the combination of the pixel switch 1016 and scattering pit 1018 illustrated in FIG. 59. In this embodiment, the variable intensity light source discussed in reference to FIGS. 50 and 51 is used to make a light emitting pixel. The light beam 1406 propagating in waveguide 1402 (equivalent to the pixel waveguide 1014 in FIG. 59) enters the pixel switching region 1420 (or 1400) which is equivalent to the pixel switch 1016 in FIG. 59. If the voltage to the switching region 1420 is turned off, the beam is guided by the output waveguide 1408. The output beam 1410 then propagates to the next pixel switching region. When the voltage is turned on, the two-dimensional waveguide in the switching region 1420 is destroyed and the light propagates in the planar waveguide 1409 as previously discussed. The light beam freely expands in one dimension as is illustrated by 1411 in FIG. 66. At an optimized propagation distance from the switching region 1420, the beam diameter has expanded enough such that a significant fraction of the beam can be coupled out toward the viewer using the scattering pits 1018. These scattering pits can be any of the configurations previously discussed in reference to FIGS. 63-65. Illustrated in FIG. 66 are two scattering pits 1018 to maximize the efficiency. The embodiment can function with a single scattering pit at the cost of reducing the efficiency by a factor of two.

A requirement for this switching configuration is that the distance 1413 between the waveguide and the edge of the scattering pit is large enough such that the output beam 1410 does not suffer a significant scattering loss while passing through the scattering pits 1018. This requirement establishes the minimum packing density and limits the efficiency of the embodiment. The packing density can be increased by reducing the width of waveguide 1402 since the diffraction angle θ of beam 1411 is larger for smaller waveguide widths.

The etch pits can also be filled with a phosphor target means. A phosphor target means is any material, solid or liquid, that absorbs one or more photons from the optical exciter light beam, and reemits the optical energy at the same or different wavelength. For a three color display, each color may be generated in a different phosphor target in a different etch pit. It would be preferable in such a system to use a single wavelength of illumination for excitation of all of the phosphor targets. A phosphor target containing etch pit is optimally constructed so that most of the input beam is absorbed by the phosphor target, and the remaining portion of the input beam does not substantially reflect away from the pit or toward the viewer. The constraints on pit curvature and roughness discussed above are not relevant for a phosphor target pit. A reflector is preferably incorporated at the rear surface of the phosphor away from the viewer so that the backward-directed fluorescence is retroreflected toward the viewer.

A combination of direct illumination and a phosphor target means can also be used to create the three color display. For example, a phosphor target can be exited by one color (e.g. blue) to generate a red or green color. Thus the blue color could be displayed directly (using one of the out-of-plane mirrors shown in FIGS. 62 to 67) with the other two colors being formed in two phosphors. Alternately, the red and the blue beams can be displayed directly while the green beam is generated by a phosphor pumped by one of the blue or the red or a third frequency beam.

An alternate embodiment of the invention includes the use of up-converting phosphor target materials, or up-converting materials, at the pixel locations. Infrared light is transported and switched through the waveguides of the invention to pixel locations which are coated or filled with wavelength up-converting materials, to be referred here as upconverting agents or upconverters. The upconverting materials include standard phosphors, such as crystal-hosted rare-earth ions, oxysulfides, dyes and rare earth doped glasses. These agents convert infrared to visible light through direct excitation, using single or multiple wavelengths, by the absorption of two or more infrared photons. At low intensity, the emitted intensity is therefore proportional to the square or a higher power of the pump laser intensity. When the phosphors are saturated, typically at greater than several watts/cm², pixel intensity would be directly proportional to laser power. Phosphors such as Yb³⁺ -Er³⁺, Yb³⁺ -Ho³⁺, Yb³⁺ -Tm³⁺ in crystalline hosts are examples of the upconversion scheme which can produce blue, green, and red light with infrared excitation. Infrared-to-visible conversion efficiencies in these phosphors have been found to exceed 10%, and excitation bands overlap well with commercially available infrared laser diode wavelengths. As described elsewhere herein, the exciting beams may be spatially and/or temporally multiplexed to converge on the pixels.

In this invention, infrared laser light is channeled to a specific pixel location where the upconverting agents have been deposited. The upconverting agent may be deposited using standard coating techniques, such as spin-coating or sputtering, and optionally followed by a patterning technique such as masked etching. In one embodiment of this device, infrared light is trasported via waveguides to pixel locations. Here the waveguides end in regions or cavities, where the upconverting agent is deposited, and where the intensity of the light is highest. These regions or cavities may be coated to modify surface reflectivity to improve coupling of the excitation light into the phosphor, and to modify the solid angle of emission from the phosphor. Alternately, out-of-plane reflectors may be used to reflect the guided infrared light to an etched or unetched surface of the display, where the phosphor is deposited as discrete dots, or an even surface layer with which pixel size is determined by the size of the deflected infrared beam at the surface. For all embodiments, the addition of an opaque film to fill non-pixel regions may be applied to better define pixel areas, and eliminate infrared and visible background scatter.

Upconverters require two or more photons to generate visible light, and because the intensity of the excitation light is highest at the pixel position where it is most confined, visible background scatter from waveguide and switch losses is strongly suppressed, giving the display intrinsically high contrast values. Since the excitation levels in these agents are relatively broad, no laser wavelength stabilization is necessary. The luminescence of the upconverting agent is incoherent, so problems associated with laser speckle are also eliminated. An adjunct advantage of channeling infrared light through waveguides is that most electro-optically active materials have higher damage thresholds in the near-infrared, and can thus tolerate higher infrared light intensities than visible.

One or more phosphors and/or dyes may be used in the display to create monochrome or color displays. Laser excitation may be with a single wavelength beam, or with multiple lasers and laser wavelengths. Variations include generating multiple wavelengths from a single laser, and generating multiple colors from a single phosphor. A single phosphor may emit multiple colors depending on the intensities, timing and wavelengths of the optical pump beams which excite it. The color of the pixel containing this phosphor may therefore be selected according to the cross product intensities incident on it. For example, if a given upconverting agent produces blue from excitation with two IR photons from beam 1, and green from excitation with one photon each from beams 1 and 2, the blue and green intensities are proportional to I₁ ² and I₁ I₂, respectively, where I₁, and I₂ are the intensities of beams 1 and 2. This approach would eliminate the need for frequency doublers, the red beam being produced directly from a red (AlGaInP) diode laser.

In all display embodiments, the excitation lasers may be continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed, provided that the pulse repetition frequency is a multiple of the pixel switching rate (or is much higher than that rate). However, with nonlinearly excited phosphors, there is a net advantage in conversion efficiency which results from pulsing the lasers. Pulsed excitation also permits further temporal control over pixel intensity and color. Phosphors possess intermediate energy levels which may remain populated for several microseconds after initial single-photon excitation, thus permitting time-multiplexing to control pixel radiance. In phosphor excitation schemes, energy levels initially populated by one or more infrared photons may be promoted directly to higher levels, which then emit, or relax and emit, visible light, or they may relax to lower levels after initial excitation to be subsequently excited to other levels which emit, or relax and emit, at different wavelengths. Pulsed excitation also permits higher peak powers to drive the agents into saturation, thus relaxing signal-to-light processing requirements.

Color displays using only such phosphor targets require at least one laser and multiple phosphor targets with different emission wavelengths, multiple lasers and a single phosphor target with multiple excitation and emission wavelengths, or multiple lasers and phosphor targets. Multiple phosphor targets in color display matrices may be combined into a single location addressed by a single waveguide, or separated into adjacent areas that are separately addressed to form a combined single pixel element.

The preferred embodiment of a phosphor target based color display uses one laser to excite one phosphor for each of the three primary colors. Waveguide and switching structures may channel each of the three laser wavelengths to their phosphor pixel targets through separate distribution arrays, but this results in an effective packing density three times lower than that for a monochrome display. The preferred method is to distribute multiple laser wavelengths through the same distribution array, and to select phosphors which are excited exclusively by one or a combination of wavelengths to produce red, green, and blue light. The laser beams may be coupled into a single waveguide using the beam combiner of FIG. 61, or multiplexed in time into a common bus using the TIR switches described in reference to FIG. 30.

An alternate embodiment for the out-of-plane reflector is given in FIG. 67. In this embodiment an out-of-plane grating coupler 1146 is used to direct the pixel beam 1144 approximately normal to the substrate surface. The single-mode input waveguide 1102 may have an adiabatic expansion 1142 which couples to a multimode waveguide section 1143, wherein only the lowest order mode is excited. A permanent grating 1146 disposed over the multimode waveguide section is phasematched for scattering light normal to the surface of the crystal. The grating is an index of refraction-implemented grating structure in which the grating is created by fabricating a general index of refraction discontinuity pattern in either the core or cladding layers of the waveguide using any of the methods known to the art. The index of refraction discontinuities may be formed, for example, by a patterned ion implantation process in the waveguide core or cladding, or by the deposition of a patterned dielectric structure as the cladding layer. If the multimode waveguide segment is excited with many spatial modes, the period of the grating can be "chirped" or adjusted along the length to allow phasematching for most of the modes thus improving the coupling efficiency. The strength of the grating may vary along its length, so that the intensity of the scattered beam is adjusted spatially to a desired pattern.

The grating may be fabricated by etching either the surface of the substrate or waveguide cladding layer, in which case the variable grating strength can be achieved by varying the depth of modulation of the etched grooves along the grating length. This can be achieved by varying the duty cycle of the mask in each period across the grating. The etch is preferably an unagitated wet etch, so that the lower mass transport in the narrower regions causes a shallower etch. In addition, the width of the multimode waveguide is preferably chosen to approximately match the length of the grating so that the size and divergence of the beam diffracted off the grating is approximately the same in both dimensions. As before, a diffuser screen may be placed at a desired distance from the out-of-plane grating mirror, producing the desired divergence of the illumination. The grating preferably has a protective overcoating of an optically transmitting material 1106, such as silicon dioxide. To make the grating, a direct writing technique, such as holography or e-beam lithography can be used to mask the substrate.

To reduce the flare and increase the display contrast ratio, an optical deflector or absorber may be used. An optical deflector or absorber should be placed around the out-of-plane reflectors to deflect the background light that would otherwise have hit the reflector and caused flare, degrading the contrast ratio. Each deflector or absorber is optimally placed so that it shadows at least one out-of-plane reflector. Since a major source of background light is the leakage of the waveguides, much of the background light is propagating in approximately the same direction as the light in the pixel waveguides 1014. The deflector or absorber is therefore at least placed upstream of the dominant direction of propagation of the background light so that a major portion of the background light can be blocked. FIG. 68 shows a pixel region 1151 with an optical deflector or absorber 1153 which surrounds the out-of-plane mirror structure 1152 and one end of its reflector waveguide 1149. As before, the light in the pixel waveguides 1147 is switched into the reflector waveguides 1149 in the pixel switch region 1148. The deflector or absorber region 1153 is deep enough to shadow the entire out-of-plane reflector region 1152. If it is an absorber layer, the absorptivity and the thickness of the absorber are adjusted to provide significant attenuation of the light propagating towards the out-of-plane reflector. The design of the deflector or absorber depends on the orientation of the out-of-plane reflector, because neither device should deflect the background light out into the image direction. The deflector is typically designed to deflect the light in the opposite direction from the image direction.

FIG. 69 shows an optical deflector 1157 which deflects the background light out of the surface of the device 1155. In this case, the out-of-plane reflector 1152 is oriented to direct the image light through the substrate as in FIGS. 62 and 63. The deflector 1157 is similar to the design of the out-of-plane reflectors 1130 or 1140 described in reference to FIGS. 64 and 65. Reflection from the vertical face 1154 of the deflector is preferably minimized because any reflected component of the background light 1156 can contribute to flare on any previous pixels. The angled surface 1158 is coated to reflect and/or absorb any light transmitted through the vertical surface. In this way, no light can penetrate through the deflector 1157. The flare is minimized on the adjacent pixel by making the beam deflector 1157 deeper and wider than the out-of-plane reflector 1152, and by placing the reflector in its shadow (but not so close as to significantly interfere with illumination of the reflector by the switched display beam). An optional optical absorber layer 1168 is disposed on the rear surface of the substrate to reduce the background light propagating within the substrate. The display light beam 1114 is only partly absorbed in the layer 1168 because of its short path length, whereas the background light, which propagates obliquely, is strongly absorbed in its longer path length through the absorber.

FIG. 70 shows a cross section of an optical deflector 1161 which deflects the background light into the substrate of the device 1163. This configuration is used when the out-of-plane reflector 1152 is oriented to direct the image light 1124 out of the surface of the device 1163. The deflector 1161 is similar to the design of the out-of-plane reflectors 1100 and 1120 described in reference to FIGS. 62 and 63. Again, the out-of-plane reflector 1152 is placed in the shadow 1159 of the deflector 1161, and a rear surface absorber layer may be used.

FIG. 71 shows a cross section 1177 of an optical absorber 1166 placed upstream of an out-of-plane reflector 1152. The total optical density and length of the absorber should be high enough to significantly reduce the intensity of any optical wave propagating through the absorber. The index of refraction change of the absorber relative to the substrate should also be low to avoid reflections at the interface between the intact substrate and the absorber region. The effect of residual reflections can be minimized by orienting the input face of the absorber region to reflect in a direction well away from both the display direction, and from the direction of other pixels.

The absorber layer can be fabricated by indiffusing an absorbing material such as chromium into the desired region, or by depositing any optically dense material into the deflector/absorber volume fabricated into the substrate surface.

Optical deflectors or absorbers may be placed between the distribution waveguide and the pixel array. The deflectors/absorbers must not cross the pixel waveguides so they may leave gaps through which can pass the background light generated by the distribution waveguide. However, each of these deflectors/absorbers can be tilted to an oblique angle to the distribution waveguide so that their shadows overlap without gaps. The remainder of the background light generated by the distribution waveguide passes through the substrate to hit either its rear face or the far side. An absorber plane at the rear surface may be configured so that the obliquely propagating background light can be effectively diminished. The far side edge of the substrate may be antireflection coated (and/or possibly absorption coated) so that the background light is extracted from the substrate where it can be efficiently captured and absorbed.

Some of the light leaking out of the waveguides can bounce off the opposite side 1112 of the substrate and return to contribute multiple times to the flare problem. In an embodiment without surface 1112 used directly as a scattering layer, or coated with an optically contacted layer of phosphor or dye, it is advantageous to apply an absorbing coating to this surface to reduce flare. This is illustrated by the absorption layer 1168 in FIGS. 63, 64, 65, 69, and 70. However, the index change associated with the coating must be low to minimize reflection from the interface. Furthermore, in the case where the display direction is through the substrate, the display light should not be significantly attenuated. These three objectives can all be met using an indiffused chromium layer at the rear surface of the substrate. A chromium indiffusion absorbs strongly across the entire visible region with very little spectral variation in its absorption strength. If the bottom layer of the lithium niobate substrate is indiffused with a 10 wt % chromium layer over the first 8 microns, the absorption of the display light across the visible spectrum is approximately flat with a 6% optical loss, which is small enough to be negligible. However, the background light, which propagates within about 3° of the plane of the wafer, passes through about 300 microns of absorber, and is attenuated by 90%. The fabrication of the desired chromium layer requires the evaporation of about 500 nm of chromium on the back surface, followed by a bake of about 30 minutes at about 1100° C. These numbers can be varied by factors of two or three on either side, depending on compensating adjustments in the other fabrication parameters.

Finally, if the display light is extracted from the surface of the substrate as illustrated in FIGS. 64, 65 and 67, it is desirable to coat the entire surface with totally opaque material (on top of a low loss buffer material), leaving only openings at the out-of-plane reflectors. This has the advantage of eliminating flare from the regions between the reflectors such as the waveguides and switches.

j. Electrodes

FIG. 72 shows a diagram of the pixel electrode structure 1165 for the preferred embodiment of the display. Each electrode 1164 consists of multiple pixel segments, each similar to that shown in electrode 922 of FIG. 34, all electrically attached together in an array which traverses multiple waveguides 1014 or 1162. In FIG. 72 the array is a linear row and multiple electrodes are laid out adjacent to each other to form a square array of exciting electrodes. Each pixel electrode is laid out over a poling boundary that forms a TIR interface, and over a switched waveguide segment. In addition, each pixel electrode extends beyond the poling boundary into an extended portion that may form the second electrode for an adjacent pixel(s). The poled regions, the reflector waveguides, and the out-of-plane reflectors are not shown in FIG. 72. A single pair of electrodes are preferably used to activate all of the TIR reflectors in a single row. The majority of the electrodes may be grounded at a given time with only a single one excited to a drive voltage, in which case the fields are determined primarily by the excited electrode and its two neighbors. The electrode has a zigzag structure so that all of the switches in a single row are electrically connected, and the adjacent electrodes are not crossed.

In order to reduce the generation of radio waves from the electrodes on the panel surface, a RF-reducing ground plane can be added. To achieve this, the processed surface of the substrate is coated with a spacer material with a high dielectric strength. If the out-of-plane reflectors direct the light out of the top surface of the substrate, then the spacer material must also be optically transparent or have holes at the locations of the out-of-plane reflectors. The spacer layer may be made thicker than the separation of the electrodes to minimize capacitance, and it is overcoated with a layer of a electrically-conducting material which forms a ground plane. As an alternative, the electrically-conducting material may be optically transparent, such as, for example, indium-tin-oxide.

k. Electronic Control

Specially designed electronics will be used to drive the display. The electronics required for the preferred embodiment are divided into four subsets: (1) the laser diode driver and optical power controller, (2) the modulator, (3) the waveguide routing electronics, and (4) the central controller.

The laser diode driver is responsible for maintaining a constant level of optical power output for the red, green, and blue light sources. If the lasers themselves are modulated, a constant level of power refers to the power level at a specified grey scale excitation. A voltage of around two volts is required to turn on the semiconductor diode lasers, while the required current depends on the desired output power, which is a function of the size and luminous intensity of the screen. Photodiodes are disposed to measure the power at all three diode laser wavelengths, as well as any frequency-doubled wavelengths, and any other key point such as after a global waveguide modulator. The control electronics will periodically sample the maximum output power of the diode lasers and adjust the maximum supply current to maintain their output power constant despite any slow aging effects. This function is probably mediated by the central controller (and might actually be accomplished there) because of the need to synchronize the power measurement within the operation of the display. The laser driver also controls the optical frequency of the diode lasers relative to the acceptance of their respective frequency doublers, if any. If the laser frequency or the center frequency of a frequency doubler drifts, the center wavelength of the feedback grating is tuned relative to the center wavelength of the frequency doubler until the maximum doubled power is optimized. If the laser is driven at a continuous unmodulated current, the relative frequency may be controlled by a feedback loop. If the laser power is modulated, the frequency controller must be more complicated since the frequency sensing must be accomplished without noticeably interfering with the modulation. In the latter case, frequency control may best be accomplished during "dead" times when the laser light is not displayed, such as between successive lines or frames of the display. The current to the laser diodes is also controlled to optimize the display brightness. A dimmer control adjusts the total current to the three laser diodes when a display brightness less than maximum is desired. In addition, if the ratio of the power at the different wavelengths is nonoptimal, the current of the laser diodes can be adjusted relative to each other with tint and hue controls, and/or with a second feedback loop.

Three modulators, one for each display color, control the power and color in all of the pixels across the display. These modulators are best configured with one for each color channel. Since the preferred embodiment uses an electro-optic modulator (the technology of FIG. 30) with a nonlinear voltage-reflectivity relationship, the voltage required for each bit is preferably determined from a look-up table. However, since the voltage-reflectivity relationship approximates the exponential grey scale-intensity relationship over most of its range, the modulator provides an approximately linear relationship between the voltage and the grey level. The pixels of the display are scanned in succession, and each color modulator simultaneously provides the intensity appropriate to its color component at each pixel. There is also a third modulator in the preferred embodiment, which we call the bias modulator, and which modulates the intensity of the combined three-color beam. The purpose of the bias modulator is to compensate for the loss of the varying lengths of waveguide between the lasers and the pixel. This modulator may be driven according to lookup table compensation data derived analytically from the waveguide length variation. The look up table data may also be derived from measurements of a given production unit to allow compensation for irregularities in the loss due to both systematic and nonsystematic effects, including optical defects. Alternatively, the bias modulation may be accomplished in independent modulators in each of the three color channels (separately from the video modulation), or in the video color modulators described above in combination with the video modulation.

The waveguide routing electronics control the sequence of the switch actuation. The light propagating down the distribution waveguide is switched into the pixel (column) waveguides one after the other at the pixel rate of about 24.6 MHZ for a simple VGA architecture with 80 Hz frame rate. The actuated row electrode determines which row of pixels are illuminated as the columns are scanned. The rows are switched relatively slowly, at about 38.4 kHz for a simple VGA architecture. Since the capacitance of the short distribution electrodes is much lower than that of the long pixel electrodes, the distribution controller has been selected to switch at the fastest rate, minimizing the drive current needed for the display. This is why the distribution electrodes are preferred to switch the columns. The higher capacitance pixel row electrodes operate at the slow rate. The switch sequence for both controls is preferably consecutive, although alternate line sweeps (interlace mode) can also be achieved with similar controls.

The central controller preferably has microprocessing capability, and is responsible for coordinating the functions of all of the above electronics modules. It should preferably be configured with control lines so that the same electronics modules can be used to display different formats such as VGA (640×480), 800×600, 1024×768, 1600×1288, HDTV, etc. Numbers of pixels smaller than physically implemented in a given display can be displayed by simply not exciting the pixels outside the range. As higher pixel count display devices become available, the same electronics drivers can then be used for them all, with at maximum some strapping of input control leads.

l. Diffusing Screen

The diffuser 1026 is a scattering surface which permits the screen to be viewed over a large solid angle which is preferably 2π steradians. A beam reflecting off a specular out-of-plane reflector in FIG. 62 diverges until it reaches the diffusing screen 1026, which is separated from the surface containing the reflector. The separation is determined by the distance required to achieve a 30% overlap of adjacent pixels, thus creating a continuous image. The diffusing surface can be either the rear surface 1112 of the substrate containing the waveguides, or a separate material such as a silicon dioxide when has been deposited on or attached to the substrate. The surface of the screen is roughened to form diffusing granules with the size distribution needed to achieve the desired angular scattering distribution.

In the preferred embodiment, the out-of-plane reflector is the non-specular scattering pit as illustrated in FIG. 63, and the array of out-of-plane reflectors 1116 forms the screen. Hence a diffusing screen is not required. In this case, the pits 1116 form the pixels, and scatter the light into the 2π steradians solid angle with an approximately Lambertian intensity profile.

It may be desired for some applications to narrow the solid angle into which the display light emerges. For a given display optical power, concentrating the power improves the brightness when viewed from within the angular field covered by the display. When it is needed to conserve battery power, for example, it might be a useful expedient to reduce the laser drive power while maintaining the brightness by narrowing the solid angle of the display.

m. Controlling Speckle

Speckle is the effect observed when spatially coherent laser light forms a granular appearing image by reflection (or transmission) from a diffuse surface. A uniformly illuminated disk of laser light appears speckled with bright and dark regions due to interference. In the case of a display, the size of the individual speckles may be larger than the pupil due to the small pixel size. Each pixel has its own independent speckle pattern, which can, in the case of perfect coherence, produce a 100% modulation of the pixels which changes randomly when the viewer moves his head. The visual perception would be a "squirming" display, which would be unpleasant to look at. There are several techniques known to the art that can eliminate the speckle effect. Most depend on spatially moving the "speckle pattern" to average out the speckle.

The perceptual impact of speckle can be eliminated in several different ways. First, if the laser is operating on a single-longitudinal frequency mode, the wavelength of the laser can be scanned at a rate that changes the speckle pattern through more than a speckle period in a time less than about 50 ms. Second, the laser can be operated on multiple longitudinal modes. Each longitudinal mode produces a different speckle pattern in combination with every other longitudinal mode, and the "cross" patterns formed by the interference of different modes oscillate at the difference frequency between the modes, which is generally far too fast for the eye to see. These "cross" patterns are therefore perceived as completely uniform. The speckle patterns of the "self" patterns formed by a mode interfering with itself are stationary in space, but the peaks and valleys of different "self" patterns occur at random. With multiple modes, all these patterns superimpose on the eye, averaging out rapidly as the number of modes increases. With multiple modes, the eye perceives a uniform light field. Third, the display can designed to use multi-mode waveguides instead of single-mode waveguides. Since each waveguide mode has a different spatial distribution, it forms a different speckle pattern. About ten modes is enough to smooth out the speckle problem. The preferred embodiment uses a multiple longitudinal mode visible laser to minimize the effect of speckle.

n. Layering Distribution Arrays

It may be useful to implement a color video display as a stacked waveguide structure, in which each layer distributes one of three separate component colors to every pixel location. In a preferred embodiment, FIGS. 73 and 74 illustrate examples 1600 and 1601 of one pixel element in the color video display using a three-dimensional, stacked array construction. This display device is shown constructed of films of polymer 1602, Si0₂ 1604, and conducting planes 1606 and patterned electrodes 1607 layered on a fused silica substrate 1620. Each layer's pixel-routing switches are addressed individually and controlled synchronously by the multi-output voltage control interface as described in reference to FIG. 34. At the pixel locations, the stacked waveguides 1608 may terminate at out-of-pane reflectors or scattering pits as described earlier, at a surface oriented 45° to create the permanent out-of-plane TIR element reflector 1610 for light 1616 through the device substrate as in FIG. 73. As an alternative, the stacked waveguides 1608 may terminate at a surface normal 1612 to the waveguide for outcoupling into a phosphor, for instance, or for reflection of light 1618 off coated surface 1614 away from the device substrate, in configurations similar to those in FIGS. 64 and 65.

o. Summary of Display Fabrication Steps

A summary of the fabrication steps for the preferred embodiment of the panel are as follows:

1. Electric-field poling of the substrate for TIR switch structures, and switchable gratings.

2. Proton exchange and annealing for waveguide and integrated lens fabrication

3. Etching for micromirrors and any etched gratings.

4. Silicon dioxide deposition for waveguide cladding layer.

5. Metal deposition for electrodes to activate the switches and modulators and to provide the reflection coatings for micromirrors (if required)

6. Drive electronics integration.

7. Laser integration and input coupling.

p. Alternate Embodiments

An alternate embodiment of the invention using grating switches to combine the three color beams is shown in FIG. 75. This structure may be used in the coupling device 1004 of FIG. 59, or fabricated into the substrate 1028 of FIG. 60, or used in the source 1000. The three waveguides may be parallel and together form the distribution bus in which case they form a multiple waveguide distribution switch 1008, or they may be used in other locations and other contexts. A first waveguide 1172 confines the red input beaten 1182, while a second waveguide 1174 confines the green input beam 1184 and a third waveguide 1176 confines the blue input beam 1186. The distribution switches are composed of three voltage activated gratings 1190, 1191, 1193 similar to the ones described in FIGS. 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13. The gratings are switchable and have activation electrodes. Each grating is fabricated with the period necessary to reflect the wavelength of the light propagating in the waveguide. These gratings reflect light out of, and approximately normal to the distribution waveguide bus. The reflection of the gratings is narrow band, so beams of other wavelengths traversing the gratings do not reflect. The light from all three distribution guides is collected and refocused by an integrated optic lens system 1178, which focuses the reflected beams into the pixel waveguide 1180 to form the pixel beam 1188. The lens system is needed to optimize the coupling of the reflected beams into the pixel waveguide. Since the length of the reflection gratings is typically much longer than the width of the waveguide, the emerging beams must be refocused into the output waveguide. The device 1170 is a dichroic beam combiner.

The shape, duty cycle, and period of the grating are designed so that the reflected mode profile approximately matches the mode profile needed to optimally mode match into the waveguide 1180 after passing through the lens system. The distribution waveguides should operate in the lowest order mode to have efficient coupling of the reflected mode into a single mode pixel waveguide. For best power coupling, a planar waveguide should be disposed between the waveguides 1172, 1174, and 1176, the lens 1178 and the waveguide 1180. This planar waveguide may alternately cover the entire substrate across the region of the structure 1170.

The integrated lens is a permanent index modulated structure such as can be achieved by proton exchange, indiffusion, or etching. The proton exchange technique is preferred because a high index of refraction can be realized, and the scatter is lower than that of an etched lens.

FIG. 36 shows an alternate embodiment of the waveguide distribution structure, in which two or more beams are separately confined in a group of distribution waveguides (the distribution bus) and a group of pixel waveguides (the pixel bus). More than two distribution and pixel waveguides may be implemented in an obvious extension of this arrangement where the additional distribution waveguide is added parallel to and above the other distribution waveguides 982 and 984, and the additional pixel waveguide crosses the previous distribution waveguides with asymmetric loss waveguide crosses similar to 997 oriented to minimize the loss in the distribution bus.

This embodiment is particularly useful for high density displays where the length of the snitch 983 and 985 is larger than the desired pixel spacing. Multiple colors may be distributed in each waveguide as described above, or the waveguides may be used in groups of three, one for each color. If an output waveguide is used to convey the laser power from the pixel switch to the out-of-plane reflector, asymmetric loss waveguide crosses should be used at these locations to avoid heavy loss in the pixel waveguides. The bus of distribution waveguides is also useful in large or high optical power displays where optical damage in the waveguides is of concern. If the laser intensity in a waveguide exceeds the damage threshold (about 10 MW/cm² in lithium niobate), the laser power will damage the waveguide catastrophically, creating a pit or a fracture or a melt zone. The intensity must therefore be kept below the damage threshold by a safety factor of perhaps two. This limits the total power propagating in a waveguide (to about 800 milliwatts in a 4 micron square lithium niobate waveguide). If more power is needed, a waveguide bus can be used to carry the total desired power.

Another embodiment is a display that uses passive optical energy routers for the pixel switches 1018 in FIG. 59. Examples of passive optical energy routers have been given above. The passive optical energy routers would split off a predetermined fraction of the light propagating in the pixel waveguide and direct it into the reflector waveguide. The reflector waveguides can be of an arbitrary length with an arbitrary curvature, all of which end at an out-of-plane reflector. The spatial locations of the array of out-of-plane reflectors would form a static image. Each of these pixel waveguides with its unique pattern of out-of-plan reflector locations is connected to a distribution waveguide using a distribution switch. The image associated with a given pixel waveguide could then be turned on and off by activating the distribution switch.

q. Tiling Displays

FIG. 76 shows a schematic diagram of a display device 1200 divided into tiles 1202. A tile is a sub-array of pixels, similar to that discussed in reference to FIG. 59, that can be independently controlled. Several tiles are then arranged together and controlled in combination to form a single display. In this embodiment, each of the tiles is fabricated on a single substrate to maintain the pixel registration between tiles since the division of the display into tiles should be invisible to the viewer. Each tile is allocated its own laser source from the diode laser array 1204 and 1206 using a bus of distribution waveguides 1206. This allows the display to emit a much larger laser power than that possible with a single laser source embodiment of FIG. 59. This would be particularly advantageous for a projection display.

In general, the tiles may be distinguished in different ways: for example, they may have different substrates, different electrode exciters, different laser sources. In FIG. 76, the tiles are distinguished by the fact that every tile is illuminated through a different waveguide (or set of waveguides). The diode laser arrays 1204 are coupled into the waveguide buses 1206 and 1208. The distribution 1008 and pixel 1016 switches are not shown in FIG. 76 for simplicity, nor are the electrodes.

At least one waveguide from each bus carries light to a tile of the array. The light waveguide distribution can be set up in many ways. For example, the first waveguide in the lower bus 1206 in FIG. 76 carries light to the lower right tile. The next waveguide to its neighbor to its left, and so on with the bottom line of tiles only partially shown in cutaway. The bus 1208 can be used similarly to carry light to the next line of tiles, only partially shown in cutaway in the drawing. Additional buses may be configured for additional lines of tiles, or a single laser array might be used to provide the light to many waveguides which are then routed into many buses and thence into the tiles. Or a combination of these approaches may be used.

The laser which supplies each waveguide is modulated with the video information needed for the display, and the electrodes which activate the rows and columns of the display select which pixel within each tile is illuminated at a given time. For a full color display, several guides may illuminate a given tile, or several laser beams may be combined into the waveguides which illuminate each tile. The bus 1206 is shown as parallel waveguides because it lies at the edge of the display and the space is available. The light from each waveguide in the bus is switched into the waveguides of the tile by the switches 1008 and 1016 and the electronics. The bus 1208 is shown as including a waveguide packing density optimization region where the separation between the waveguides is reduced prior to traversing the display between tiles.

Since the total space for the waveguides between tiles is less than the separation of the pixels, it is desirable to pack the guides closely together. Perhaps ten 4 μm waveguides might fit effectively in a 100 micron interpixel gap, for example, if all the space is available. It is desirable to run the distribution bus along the column direction because there is unused space between the out-of-plane refectors 1018 and one of the adjacent pixel waveguides 1014. However, only four or five waveguides might fit between each column in a dense display. In the latter case, the bus might be divided up into sub-buses which run along the empty space in adjacent columns until arriving at the tile of choice. If the bus runs along a row direction, it may cross at least some reflector waveguides 1017 (due to their oblique angle), causing additional loss which must be compensated to form a uniform display. The crossings with the reflector waveguides may be with asymmetric loss crosses, but the loss in the reflector waveguides which cross the many lines of the bus will be significantly altered. While the power in each tile is limited by the power carried by its distribution waveguides, the power in the display can be increased as desired by increasing the number of waveguides coupled to lasers.

Each distribution waveguide in such a tiled display is coupled to a light source which is modulated according to the pixel activation pattern for its tile. The electrode activation pattern is preferably also divided according to the tiling of the display. The column selection and row selection switches are cycled repetitively within the range of each tile. A row and a column of every tile can be simultaneously illuminated. For instance, if a VGA display is tiled with 16 tiles each containing 160×120 pixels, every 160^(th) column in the display and every 120^(th) row is activated simultaneously. 160 columns are scanned consecutively and then the pattern repeats. The same is true for the rows. To achieve an 80 Hz frame rate, the columns are then scanned at only 1.53 MHZ, and the rows are switched at 9.6 kHz. The tiles may be stacked in alignment either directly above and beside each other in a square array, or possibly in a staggered array.

Tiling the display can also be useful in fabricating large area displays. In this embodiment, multiple pixel arrays are fabricated on separate substrates that are aligned and tiled together by bonding them to a glass or plastic second substrate. Each tile is fabricated as indicated in FIG. 59 and operates as a separate sub-display area. Laser light can be coupled to each tile from an exterior edge using fiber coupling to route the laser light from the source to the appropriate tile.

FIG. 77 shows an alternate embodiment of the 3 color display in which each of the distribution reflectors 1272, and 1274 only reflect a portion of the light from the distribution waveguides 1262, and 1264 into the pixel waveguides 1292, and 1294. The distribution reflector is not a switch but a permanent passive optical energy router that operates as a beam power divider. The preferred method of fabricating this power divider is to etch a narrow, shallow groove at 45° to the distribution waveguide at the junction of the two waveguides. The display application is best served by adjusting the reflection coefficient of each of the distribution reflectors so that an approximately equal power emerges into each of the waveguides 1292 or 1294 connected to one of the distribution waveguides. The reflectivities must be adjusted according to the number of reflectors attached to the distribution waveguide, and the length and loss coefficient of the waveguide. Each reflector can be adjusted by changing the width of the etched groove and/or its depth. Multiple distribution waveguides may be incorporated into the structure if the waveguide crossings have asymmetric loss as described in reference to element 997 in FIG. 36. The distribution waveguides are the preferred, low loss guides, in these crosses. Additional distribution waveguides may be incorporated as described above.

In addition, each pixel waveguide contains a separate modulator 1282, and 1284. Since there is an array of modulators in this structure, a power dump for each modulated beam is required in order to remove the rejected light and prevent it from becoming background light. The power dump realized in several alternative ways. It may be a waveguide which propagates the light away from the modulator, past all the pixels, and out to (or through) the edge of the substrate where the power is absorbed. This is a good option if the losses of the waveguide are small enough, but if the losses are large, this waveguide will dump most of the power into the substrate along its length. The power dump may be a beam deflector similar to the structures described in reference to FIGS. 69 and 70. As above, the power must be dumped in a direction different from the display direction, where the power is preferably absorbed. Another alternative power dump is an absorbing material placed near each modulator. A waveguide may direct the rejected light toward an etched pit filled with absorbing material, or through an indiffused absorber section such as the chromium doped region described above. The pixel switches and out-of-plane reflectors are the same as the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 59. One advantage of this configuration is that the high speed drive electronics with its associated high current draw has been eliminated in favor of a slow (38.4 kHz) modulator array. As before, the rows of pixel switches are actuated at 38.4 kHz for a simple VGA architecture with 80 Hz frame rate.

r. Projection Displays

FIG. 78 shows an embodiment for a laser bar-pumped monochrome display. In this realization a laser bar 1302 is the light source, which consists of multiple semiconductor diode lasers on a chip, is coupled into an array of pixel waveguides at one side of the substrate 1300 of the display. A distribution waveguide is not required for this embodiment. During the fabrication of the laser bar and the display, the separation of the lasers on the bar is adjusted relative to the separation of the waveguides of the display until they are approximately equal. The array of lasers on the bar is aligned to couple into the array of pixel waveguides. Coupling may be achieved in an edge coupling arrangement where power is coupled into the waveguides through the ends of the waveguides at an edge of the lithium niobate chip (by butt-coupling or lens coupling) or by a surface coupling arrangement where power is coupled through the surface of the lithium niobate chip and into a waveguide. Each pixel waveguide preferably traverses an individual modulator 1306, and a frequency selective reflector 1304 for diode laser frequency stabilization. An array of pixel switches 1016 are fabricated along each waveguide. Each pixel switch reflects the beam to an out-of plane reflector 1018. A row of the out-of-plane reflectors 1019 is activated at the same time, so that all of the modulators work in synchronism.

As a simple variation on this structure, multiple laser bars may be used to power a single display, further increasing the total available power. The modulators may alternately be implemented in the laser bars if the laser excitation electrodes are made distinct and individually accessible. However, it is easier to connect modulators on the lithium niobate substrate to the control electronics, as compared to GaAs modulators, because of the ease of routing the control electrodes from surface mounted electronics to modulators on the same wafer. If the lasers are to be frequency doubled, periodically poled frequency doubling sections may also be disposed along the waveguides along with the support and control structures described above. Finally, the lasers might couple to an array of waveguides which forms a distribution bus connected to a tiled display. Indeed, the display of FIG. 78 is a tiled display with each tile having a single column and as many rows are in the display.

The display power may be very high in the configuration of FIG. 78 since there are multiple laser sources and since no one waveguide limits the power of many other waveguides. High display power is of particular use for projection displays. The display is imaged using standard projection optics known to the art onto a diffuser screen which is separate from the substrate. The projection optics collect a large fraction of the light emitted from the display and refocus it onto the screen, which is viewed directly by the audience. The screen can for example be a large-screen projection video screen or a theater screen. For a projection display, the solid angle of the emitted light from the individual pixels is preferably small, which implies that flat, smooth surfaces should be used in the out-of-plane reflectors. It is also advantageous for the reflector waveguides to have a larger cross section, reducing the divergence, which can be achieved by tapering out the pixel or the reflector waveguides.

Full color can be added to the display of FIG. 78 by adding additional pixel waveguides for each additional color. The size of the waveguide features is sufficiently compact to allow three independent pixel waveguide structures to be incorporated, one for each color. If the laser bar 1302 is for producing blue, for example, an array of green-producing lasers may be coupled into the display at the other side, by the same coupling technique as for the blue producing bar, with the green pixel waveguides being interlaced with, but counterpropagating relative to, the blue pixel waveguides. As mentioned, the blue and green laser arrays might consist of infrared laser arrays with frequency doubler sections to produce the visible light. The red laser array may also be simultaneously coupled to an interlaced array of pixel waveguides if it is coupled to the display waveguides using a different technique. If the blue and green beams are edge coupled, for example, the red beams may be surface coupled. In the surface coupled arrangement, the blue and/or green waveguides may pass under the red laser bar without substantial loss.

FIGS. 79 and 80 show a surface coupled arrangement 1310 in which laser bars are coupled into waveguides of a planar substrate. Three laser bars 1312, 1314, and 1316 are coupled into every third waveguide of a waveguide array 1318. Each laser bar has an array of waveguides with spacing equal to the spacing of the surface coupling mirrors designed to accept the output of the laser bars. The illustrated section of the laser bar 1312 has two waveguides 1320 and 1322, but the entire laser bar may have many more lasers. These two waveguides align with the two waveguides 1324 and 1326 in the substrate. The bar 1312 is aligned over the array of surface coupling mirrors 1328 and 1330 so that the light beams emitted from the individual laser waveguides 1320 and 1322 are reflected from the two mirrors 1328 and 1330 into a reflected beam which is coaxially aligned with the mode propagating in the waveguides 1324 and 1326. The sizes of the waveguides 1320, 1322, 1324 and 1326 are adjusted to approximately maximize the coupling of the light beams so reflected. The remainder of the waveguides far from the surface coupling mirrors can be tapered to the desired size for another purpose such as amplification in the laser bar 1312 and such as frequency doubling or modulating or switching or display later in the substrate 1332.

The other diode bars 1314 and 1316 may also be coupled to waveguides in the substrate in a similar way as shown, and the waveguides coupled to the different diode bars may be interlaced in various patterns.

FIG. 80 shows an expanded vertical section through the device of FIG. 79 at the location of one of the turning mirrors 1330. The surface coupling mirror 1330 may be fabricated by one of the techniques discussed above in reference to the out-of-plane mirrors of FIGS. 62-67. A coating 1334 is deposited on top of the waveguide 1326. This coating is a lower index transparent material such as silica or alumina which is thick enough to contain several exponential decay lengths of the mode propagating in the guide 1326. If lossy structures are placed on top of this coating, they will not significantly affect the loss of the waveguide 1326. A reflective coating 1331 is optimally coated onto the angled surface of the mirror 1330. The vertical surface 1333 must not be coated with any reflective coating, so the coating 1331 must be applied at an angle. The surface 1333 may be antireflection coated if it is desired to reduce the Fresnel coupling loss at this surface. A coating 1336 is preferably applied to the front facet of the diode laser so that contact with the substrate 1332 does not damage the facet of the laser. If desired for ease and ruggedness of mounting, a mounting block 1338 may be attached at a surface of the bar 1312 and at a surface of the substrate 1332 with bonding agents 1340. The mounting block 1338 may also be useful for heat sinking the diode lasers if it has good thermal conductivity and is connected to a thermal conduit which removes the heat.

s. Three Dimensional Displays

Three dimensional (3-D) images can be displayed using the array technology disclosed herein. In a three dimensional display, each eye observes a slightly different image. This has previously been accomplished in the prior art, for example, by projecting two images that have orthogonal polarizations on a screen and viewing that screen using a pair of glasses that have orthogonal polarizers covering each eye. This approach has problems with head motion, which may rotate the two images partially into each other. An alternate method used in the prior art is to use a set of goggles containing independent light valves for the two eyes which alternately shut off the right eye while remaining transparent for the left eye, followed by the opposite state. A synchronized display device which presents different images alternately for the two eyes creates the 3-D effect. This approach is limited by the switching speed of the display because remanence leaves a faint version of the previous image superposed on the new image intended for the other eye, producing a muddy image. A further method which has been used is to construct a set of goggles containing two separate miniature displays (LCD or CRT), one for each eye, which display the two images simultaneously. This approach has problems with weight and cost with the prior art. In each case, each eye sees only one image since the other image is blocked in some manner.

This same effect can be accomplished using the embodiments disclosed herein. In the preferred embodiment illustrated by FIG. 59, the light propagating toward the viewer from the display may be inherently polarized by design without the use of thin film polarizers. This allows polarization related 3-D display techniques to be implemented without the loss of efficiency that is inherent with the use of CRT or LCD displays that need to use thin film polarizers to polarize the light. If TIR switches are used, both polarizations may be routed through dual polarization supporting waveguides, but the reflectivity of the TIR switches is much higher in the TM polarization (on z-cut substrates of lithium niobate), so that an efficient display will be designed to be purely TM. If the switches are grating switches, only one polarization is reflected from 90° waveguide junctions (at Brewster's angle), with the beam always being TM polarized (z-cut is then the best substrate cut on lithium niobate).

Since the waveguide switches have a short interaction length, a pixel spacing of less than 100 microns is possible with the technology disclosed herein. This would allow a VGA format high resolution display to be fabricated with a screen diagonal of less than 3 inches. These miniature displays could be mounted in goggles as described above for the prior art.

One advantage the present display has for this application over that of the CRT or the LCD display is that the substrate is substantially transparent. This results because the area of the opaque out-of-plane reflector that forms an image pixel can be more than 100 times smaller than the area between pixels. Hence less than 1% of display area is opaque. If the diffusing screen is fabricated as part of the out-of-plane reflector as discussed in reference to FIG. 63, the display will appear transparent if the viewer focuses his eyes at a point beyond the image plane. In this manner, a heads-up or "see through" head-mounted display can be realized. This could be used in many display applications including virtual reality, home entertainment, and military aircraft.

FIG. 81 discloses an embodiment of a compact three-dimensional image display. The 3-D display consists of two arrays of pixels, 1706 and 1708, fabricated using the same design and orientation on two separated substrates 1702 and 1704. As indicated by the axes notations in FIG. 81, the array 1708 has been rotated by 90° in relation to array 1706. Thus the light that is emitted toward the view by array 1706 is orthogonally polarized to the light emitted by array 1708. The corners of the display are aligned vertically as illustrated by the lines 1710 to allow good registration of the two images. Since the substrates are less that 0.5 mm thick, the light emitted by the combined display will appear to come from nearly the same plane. A nearly identical emitting plane for both arrays can be realized if array 1706 uses the out-of-plane reflectors illustrated in FIGS. 62 or 63 while array 1708 uses the out-of-plane reflectors illustrated in FIGS. 64 and 65. Although a square array of pixels is illustrated, any aspect ratio could be used as long as care is taken to ensure that out-of-plane reflectors of each array are aligned such that the light from array 1706 is orthogonally polarized to that of array 1708.

The two arrays operate as one display using the techniques discussed in reference to FIG. 59. The viewer wears a set of glasses with a polarizer covering each eye, the polarizers being orthogonally aligned. Thus each eye observes only the light emitted by one of the arrays. The images displayed by each array are formatted using techniques known to the art to achieve the perception of a three dimensional image. This embodiment can be used for both a direct view or a 3-D projection application if a lens (not shown) is used to project the image plane onto a larger viewing screen.

t. Reverse Scanning

Most diverting devices do not require that they be in their full-on state before they allow energy to be diverted, and do not require that they be in their full-off state before they no longer allow energy to be diverted. A typical response curve for a conventional switch, for example a thermo-optic switch, is illustrated in FIG. 84. Thermo-optic switches are devices which utilize the temperature dependent characteristic of the index of refraction to facilitate switching. If one considers such a switch incorporated into a light guide, when no current is applied to the heater element associated with the thermo-optic switch, optical energy introduced into the optical light guide will propagate downstream passing the switch, and very little, if any, optical energy will be deflected from its path. When current is applied, the heater element injects thermal energy into the portions of the light guide that are located immediately below the heater element. As a result, the index of refraction increases for those heated portions of the light guide and ultimately causes the optical energy to divert from its downstream direction.

A turn-on control signal is asserted at time T841 and assuming instantaneous electrical response, the heater element injects thermal energy into the switch, the thermal energy applied may be constant or variable over time. Thermal energy injected by the heater changes the index of refraction, causing a portion of the optical energy to be diverted from the primary path by the switch. However in this example, the alteration in refractive index is not sufficient to allow the diverted optical energy to be useful for its predefined purpose. It is not until time T842 that the switch reaches the "on" state as indicated by 8404, a percentage of the maximum attainable value 8402, and the minimum level at which the optical energy diverted by the switch is sufficient to be useful for its intended purpose. At T842 a portion of the optical energy, which may be in the range of 0 to 100%, is diverted by the switch and the switch is "on". During the time T841a and T842, the switch transitions from an "off" state 8406 to and "on" state 8404, the time taken to do so known to those skilled in the art as the rise time for the switch. In this particular case, the level 8404 shows that at least 90% of the initial energy is diverted by the switch in its "on" state.

As the temperature continues to rise, so does the percentage of energy diverted by the switch, until it reaches the maximum level 8402 at time T843, which in an ideal situation would be 100% of the initial energy diverted by the switch, the switch is in its full-on state. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the maximum level may be less than 100% due to many considerations, for example, the switches operated at non-optimal conditions.

A turn-off control signal is asserted at time T844, and assuming instantaneous electrical response, the heater element stops injecting thermal energy into the switch. Since the heat has been removed, the index of refraction changes, reducing the amount of optical energy diverted by the switch. However, in this example, the alteration in refractive index is not yet sufficient to dictate that the switch be in an "off" state. During the time T844 and T844a the switch commences its transition from its full-on state 8402 to the minimum percentage of energy diversion which allows the switch to be considered to be in its "on" state 8404. As time continues towards T845, the switch transitions from the "on" state to the "off" state, during this time the optical energy is diverted from the switch but the diverted energy is not considered useful for its predefined purpose, the time taken to do so known to those skilled in the art as the fall time for the switch. At time T845, the switch reaches the "off" state as indicated by 8406, a smaller percentage of the maximum attainable value 8402, the level at which any optical energy diverted by the switch is low enough that the switch be considered to effectively no longer divert energy from its primary path. After T845 only a small portion of the optical energy, which may be in the range of 0 to 100%, but has to be less than the "on" state 8404, of the optical energy, is diverted by the switch, the switch is effectively in an "off" state. During the time T844a to T845 the switch will have transitioned from its "on" state, a level of for example 90% diversion to its "off" state, the level at which for example only 10% of the optical energy is diverted by the switch.

As the temperature continues to fall, so dose the percentage of optical energy diverted by the switch, until it reaches the minimum level 8408 at time T846, which is in an ideal situation would be 0% of the initial energy diverted by the switch, the switch is in its full-off state, and energy once again propagates along the primary path. Once again, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that 0% may not be the minimum level, as some devices may have residual insertion loss, for example.

FIG. 86 illustrates a portion of a visual display device according to the present invention which employs a matrix of optically energized display elements, shown here as a 3×3 array of discrete segments arranged in columns and rows with each row of display elements and respective diverting devices disposed along an optical path. In this embodiment, the array has a set of three optical paths, paths 8604, 8624 and 8644. Each optical path is capable of allowing energy from a respective optical energy source 8602, 8622 or 8642 to be propagated along the optical path when most of the optical diverting devices 8606, 8608 and 8610 are in their full-off states. In the embodiment illustrated, the optical paths are defined by respective optical waveguides which have their own independent energy sources 8602, 8622 and 8642. However, in an alternate embodiment, the optical paths may be connected to a single energy source.

The diverting devices serve to divert energy from the optical path and thus depending upon the nature of the application may compromise diverters, deflectors, diffractors, directional couplers, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, refractors, reflectors, switches, switched absorbers or switched detectors, and are not limited to the examples of diverting devices described above. In an embodiment of the invention, the visual display may comprise two or more layers of these matrix arrays, thus forming a three dimensional visual display.

In this arrangement, the optical energy is propagated from an upstream position, for example an energy source 8602, to a downstream position along the optical path 8604, through each of the diverting devices 8606, 8608 and 8610 in sequence. In this manner, energy can be diverted to application structures 8612, 8614 and 8616 respectively, for example, the display elements or pixels of a display. In order to facilitate the asserting of turn-on and turn-off signals for the diverting devices, a controller 8618 is provided which controls each of the diverting devices or switches 8606, 8608 and 8610, such that each can be switched on at a predetermined time in a predetermined sequence. In an embodiment, the circuitry can be implemented in a single control logic to provide such operation.

The controller 8618 asserts the appropriate control signal to the switch in question, specifying that the switch should turn itself "on", and the switches, in response to the turn-on signal, divert energy from the primary optical path at a finite time thereafter. Depending upon the type of switch utilized, the assertion of the control signals may be carried on separate conductors, such that the assertion of one of such control signals may involve increasing the voltage or current on the appropriate conductor from a low level to a high level, or vice-versa. In an embodiment in which the turn-on and turn-off control signals are carried on the same conductor, the assertion of one of such control signals may involve increasing the voltage or current on that conductor from a low level to a high level, while assertion of the other of such control signals may involve decreasing the voltage or current on that conductor from a high level to a low level. In the latter case, assertion of the turn-on control signal is synonymous with negation of the turn-off control signal, and vice-versa.

In the arrangement shown, assuming that each device has a faster rise time compared to its fall time, as illustrated by the response curve of FIG. 84, the control unit will not switch the second device 8608 until device 8606 is close to its off state, although device 8610 may be in an on state. Switching before this time occurs will not have the desired result.

In accordance with the present invention, the controller 8618 is able to control the diverting devices 8606, 8608 and 8610 in a manner which is able to optimize the switching speed that is attainable by the individual components. The timing arrangement for the assertion of the control signals to the desired diverting devices, and the diverting devices response are illustrated in FIG. 87. For example, in the embodiment described above, where the rise time is shorter than the fall time, the controller asserts control signals to the switches 8606, 8608 and 8610 by turning on the switches sequentially in a direction that is opposed to the direction of propagation of energy, that is, switch 8610 is switched on before 8608, and 8606 is switched on after 8608. When switch 8610 is turned on, the energy that is propagating along 8604 travels through switches 8606 and 8608 and is eventually diverted into the application structure 8616 by optical switch 8610, once the rise time for this particular switch has passed. Without waiting until switch 8610 is turned completely off, that is, without waiting for the fall time to pass, the controller sends the appropriate instruction for device 8608 to be turned on. Hence optical switches 8608 and 8610 may be effectively in their on-states, but not necessarily in the full-on state, at the same time. When this instruction has been carried out, energy propagating along optical path 8604 travels through switch 8606 and is diverted into the application structure 8614 by switch 8608, and does not reach switch 8610. In this case, it is assumed that in the full-on state, 100 percent of the optical energy is diverted. In reality, a small amount of the energy may be propagated along to diverting device 8610. In this manner, one does not have to wait until a switch has reached its off state before switching the next switch on, and thus a fast switching speed can be attained. Once all of the switches have been switched in this manner and sufficient time has elapsed, switch 8606 is in its off state such that energy can once again propagate along optical path 8604 all the way to switch 8610, the sequence may then begin again, starting with the switch at the end farthest from the energy source 8602. Depending upon the fall time of the optical diverting devices used, it may be necessary to not only wait for sufficient time to elapse for the switch 8606 to turn off, but also for sufficient time to permit substantial energy propagation along the optical path 8604, such that most of the switches along the path are in the full-off state. Switching this particular architecture in this sequence allows the switching speed of the diverting devices to be faster than that which is attained if the switching operation is initiated in a sequence from switch 8606 closest to the energy source 8602, to switch 8610 farthest from the energy source. This architecture and the associated switching method also enables sequential switching to occur without waiting for each previously scanned switch to return to its off state.

In the timing diagram illustrated by FIG. 87, the controller asserts the turning on of the next switch at the same time as asserting the turning off of the current switch. In this manner, for the particular switches illustrated, the next switch reaches its on state before the previous switch reaches its off state, and efficient energy transfer is maintained. The timing required to obtain such efficiency is dependent upon the relative rise and fall times associated with the switching arrangement in question, the switches' ability to divert energy when in an on state, that is, between the predetermined full-on and full-off states, and the requirements imposed by the application in question. In this particular case, the "scanning" direction is considered to be in the reverse direction of the energy propagation, and is determined by the direction in which the assertion of the turn-on signals for the switches is carried out.

In a situation in which each diverting device has a rise time T881 longer than its fall time T882, as illustrated in FIG. 88, controlling the diverting devices in the manner described above in FIG. 87 would not achieve the desired result. In this example, the system for scanning the diverting devices can be characterized by the same diagram as illustrated in FIG. 86, but with switches of the characteristics illustrated in FIG. 88. Under these circumstances, if one utilizes the same control signals timing diagram as illustrated in FIG. 87, when switch 8610 is turned on, one has to wait a significant time, that is at least until time T881 elapses, before switch 8610 reaches its on state. During that transition time, light is partially diverted by switch 8610, and downstream switches can not extract the full optical energy. In addition, it can be seen that there is significant delay after switch 8610 turns off before switch 8608 turns on, since one cannot allow switch 8608 to transition out of its off state while one is switching light using 8610, for the reasons explained previously.

In order to make the sequencing speed faster in the embodiment in which the rise time of each switch is longer than the fall time, the controller 8618 asserts the turn-on and turn-off signals such that in a downstream sequence, each switch begins transitioning from its off state to its on state at some time before the immediately prior switch reaches its off state. That is, for example, switch 8608 begins turning on before switch 8606 reaches its off state, and switch 8610 begins turning on before switch 8608 reaches its off state. In one embodiment, all of the switches along an optical path are turned on, simultaneously or otherwise, before the controller begins turning each one off in a downstream sequence. In other embodiment, the switches are turned on in the same downstream sequence in which they are turned off, but as shown in FIG. 89, each switch begins transitioning from its off state to its on state not only before the immediately prior switch actually reaches its off state, but before the immediately prior switch even begins transitioning from its on state to its off state. In another embodiment, the switches are turned on in the same downstream sequence in which they are turned off, but each switch actually reaches its on-state before the immediately prior switch actually reaches its off state. Other variations will be apparent.

In the embodiment of FIG. 89, in order to achieve the device responses shown, it can be seen that the control signals for the three switches overlap. That is, the controller asserts each turn-on signal in a downstream sequence before asserting the turn-off signal for the immediately prior control signal. This control scheme assumes certain properties of the switch which may not hold true for other switches. For example, if the switches 8606, 8608 and 8610 are thermo-optic, the control scheme illustrated in FIG. 89 assumes certain electrical, thermal and thermo-optic properties (among other things) of the switch and its heater element. It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, it might be that the most convenient way to achieve overlapping device responses such as those shown in FIG. 89 would be to assert the control signals in a non-overlapping manner. That is, in such an embodiment, the controller 8616 might assert the turn-off signal for each switch before asserting the turn-on signal for the next switch in the downstream sequence. The sequence and timing with which the turn-on and turn-off control signals are asserted will therefore depend on the various properties of the switches, and may or may not be the same as the sequence and timing with which the switches themselves turn on and off.

Referring to FIGS. 86 and 89, with all three switches 8606, 8608 and 8610 on, energy is eventually diverted only by switch 8606, after time T881 since once its energy is diverted by switch 8606 there is little or no energy left to propagate along 8604. The controller 8618 then asserts the turn-off signal for the switches in a forward or downstream sequence, starting with 8606 first. Once the fall time T882 has elapsed, optical energy propagates through switch 8606 without diversion and along the optical path 8604 to switch 8608 where it is diverted to associated display element 8614. The controller then asserts the turn-off signal for switch 8610, thus allowing the energy to propagate through both switches 8606 and 8608 and along the optical path 8604 to switch 8610 where it is switched out into its associated display element 8616. The optical path 8604 may be defined by an optical waveguide with waveguide segments between adjacent switches along the optical path.

FIG. 89 illustrates an example of a timing arrangement for assertion of the control signals to the desired diverting device and the response of the diverting devices. In this particular timing diagram, the controller asserts the turn-off signal for the current switch 8606 such that as it reaches its off state, it is time to assert the turn-off signal for the next switch 8608 which is positioned downstream of switch 8606 along the optical path. In this manner, each switch is diverting energy only in its full-on state for a finite amount of time before it is asserted a turn-off signal eventually reaching its full-off state in response to the turn-off signal. Once again, the timing required to obtain such a response is dependent upon the relative rise and fall times associated with the switching arrangement in question, the switches' ability to divert energy when in an on state, that is, between the determined full-on and full-off states, and the requirements imposed by the application in question.

The method of scanning the diverting devices according to the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above; other embodiments are also possible. FIG. 90 is a flowchart illustrating several possibilities of timing the assertions of turn-on and turn-off signals by the controller to switch two diverting devices. In this particular case, it is assumed that the two diverting devices have similar or the same characteristics with respect to relative rise and fall times.

In a step 9002, the controller asserts the turn-on signal for a first of the diverting devices, which may or may not be the device closest to the energy source. After this signal has been asserted, the device reaches its fill-on state within a finite time, passing through the on state, the level at which the device begins to divert the predetermined percentage energy as required, for example, 90% of total energy from the optical path, and eventually reaching its full-on state, the state in which substantially all the energy is diverted from the primary path.

In a step 9004, the controller asserts the turning off of the first diverting device, and once this has been asserted the characteristics of the device will fall towards their full-off state, transitioning through the off state, the level at which the optical energy diverted by the device, for example 10%, is no longer sufficient to be useful for its intended purpose, and is low enough that the switch be considered to effectively no longer divert optical energy from its primary path. The device eventually reaches its full-off state, the state in which substantially all the energy is once again propagating along the original path.

Step 9006 is performed when the controller asserts the turn-on signal for the second one of the diverting devices, which may be either upstream or downstream from the first diverting device. The particular point at which this step is carried out will depend upon the characteristics of the diverting devices themselves, the nature of the application, and the specific result that is desired by the user. Dependent upon these elements, the user may require that the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second device be carried out at any of the five stages indicated in FIG. 90. The assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device may be performed immediately after asserting the turn-on signal for the first device, or after the first device has reached its on state, once it has attained its full-on state, after asserting the turn off of the first device, after the first device has attained its off state, or before it has attained its full-off state. It can be seen from this and from the other figures illustrating this invention, that one of the features of this invention is that the diverting devices can be on at the same time, the on state not necessarily meaning in their full-on state.

FIG. 91 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of method according to the present invention. This arrangement shows a series of diverting devices for which the direction of propagation of the energy is in the opposite direction to that of the scanning. Once again, for this particular case it is assumed that the diverting devices have similar or the same characteristics with respect to relative rise and fall times. This flow chart illustrates an arrangement in which a step 9102 to assert the turning on of the diverting device farthest from the source is made first. After that, in a step 9104, an assertion is made to turn on the second device, the one closer to the source. The method illustrates that the assertion to turn on the third device in step 9106 takes place at the same time that the assertion is made to turn off the first device in step 9108. However, it will be apparent that these steps may be carried out one after the other. The method employed results in the scanning of a device, such as the display shown in FIG. 86 in a direction that is opposite to the direction of propagation of the energy, and is determined by the direction in which assertion of the turning on of the switches is carried out.

FIG. 91 shows the assertion of turn-on and turn-off signals for a series of devices, which may for example form a row on a display, each diverting device ultimately capable of diverting optical energy from the primary optical path out to a pixel of the display, similar to the architecture illustrated in FIG. 86. However, it can be seen that this idea may carry through to more than one such row or series of devices. There may be many such rows on a display. Considering such a display, it will be clear that it may be possible to assert the turning on of each of the first diverting devices on each of the rows at the same time, hence ultimately turning all the pixels in a column of a display on at the same time. It would also be possible to assert the turning on of the first diverting device of each row the display at a different time, perhaps one after the other from top to bottom of the display. Other variations are also possible.

In an embodiment in which a display comprises an array of display elements arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, with each row of the display elements coupled to the respective diverting devices, the diverting devices in different rows of the same column may be turned on simultaneously. For example, in a situation in which each diverting device is characterized by a rise-time shorter than its fall-time, all of the diverting devices in the first column closest to the respective energy sources along the respective optical paths may be asserted a turn-on signal simultaneously, followed by the step of asserting a turn-on signal to all of the diverting devices in the next columns. In a situation in which each of the diverting devices is characterized by a rise-time longer than its fall-time, the first column contains diverting devices positioned along the respective optical path farthest from the respective energy sources. All of the diverting devices in the first column may be asserted a turn-on signal simultaneously, followed by the step of asserting a turn-on signal for all of the diverting devices in the next column positioned upstream of the diverting devices in the first column along the respective optical path. The present invention as applied to scanning an array of display elements, however, is not limited to the simultaneous assertion of turn-on signals for diverting devices in the same column. In an alternate embodiment, the diverting devices may be asserted respective turn-on signals one row at a time. In yet another embodiment, two or more diverting devices but not all of the diverting devices in the same column but different rows may be asserted the turn-on signal simultaneously.

The methods described above all depend upon the rise and fall time of the diverting devices which are utilized, and the type of response that is ultimately required. FIG. 92 shows a flow chart which serves to identify at least the direction in which the scanning of a device with the architecture described throughout this description should take place. The architecture is one in which a plurality of energy diverting devices are placed on an optical path, and wherein when all diverting devices are effectively in their full-off state, energy propagates from an upstream position toward a downstream position along an optical path that passes through at least a portion of each of the diverting devices. In addition, this architecture allows energy to be selectively diverted from this optical path. It is the scanning, or the way in which these diverting devices are selectively controlled that forms the substance of this aspect of the invention.

The first step 9202 of this procedure is to identify whether the diverting devices are ones for which the finite time of the devices to transition from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal is greater or less than the finite time of the device to transition from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal. Once this has been established, the direction of scanning has been dictated.

If the finite time of the devices to transition from their off state to their on state in response to the turn-on signal is greater than the finite time of the devices to transition from their on state to their off state in response to the turn-off signal, the scanning direction is in a downstream direction, as illustrated by FIG. 89. Hence the scanning method employed can provide in a step 9204, a scanning direction input to the controller dictating scanning in the downstream direction.

If the finite time of the devices to transition from their off state to their on state in response to the turn-on signal is less than the finite time of the devices to transition from their on state to their off state in response to the turn-off signal, the scanning direction is in an upstream direction, as illustrated in FIGS. 87 & 91.

It will be apparent that these are only examples of the types of control that could be adopted by such a system. Alternatives to this system will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The invention has now been explained with reference to specific embodiments. Other embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as indicated by the appended claims, which form a part of this invention description. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for scanning elements of a display using a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed along a first optical path carrying optical energy from a first upstream position to a first downstream position, each diverting device having a respective on state and a respective off state and diverting optical energy from the first optical path to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, the method comprising the step of scanning the display elements at least in part by controlling the diverting devices along the first optical path such that the diverting devices reach their on states in upstream sequence.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein each diverting device transitions from its off state to its on state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-on signal, and each diverting device transitions from its on state to its off state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-off signal, and wherein the step of scanning the display elements comprises the steps of:(a) asserting a turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices; (b) asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device; and (c) asserting a turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned upstream from the first diverting device along the first optical path, the second diverting device reaching the on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, prior to the first diverting device reaching the off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of asserting a turn-on signal for the second diverting device comprises the step of bringing the second diverting device to its on state after the first diverting device reaches its on state in response to the step of asserting a turn-on signal for the first diverting device.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second diverting device reaches its on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, before the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the diverting devices further include a third diverting device positioned upstream of the second diverting device, and wherein the step of scanning the display elements comprises the further steps of:diverting devices situated along all of the optical energy paths in the plurality of optical paths in parallel.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the finite time in which the first diverting device transitions from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal is greater than the finite time in which the second diverting device transitions from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal.
 7. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) for scanning the display elements repetitively.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the turn-on signal for a given one of the diverting devices is carried on the same conductor as the turn-off signal for the given diverting device.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first optical path is defined at least in part by an optical waveguide segment.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the diverting devices comprise thermo-optic switches.
 11. The method of claim 1, comprising the step of scanning the display elements repetitively by controlling the diverting devices along the first optical path such that the diverting devices reach their on states in a repeated upstream sequence.
 12. A method according to claim 1, using a plurality of optical energy diverting devices arranged in an array, and a plurality of optical paths including the first optical path, each of the optical paths carrying optical energy from a respective upstream position to a respective downstream position, each diverting device being situated along one of the optical paths in the plurality of optical paths and having a respective on state and a respective off state, each diverting device diverting optical energy from the optical path along which it is situated to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, the step of scanning the display elements including the step of scanning the diverting devices situated along all of the optical energy paths in the plurality of optical paths in parallel.
 13. A method for scanning elements of a display using a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed along a first optical path carrying optical energy from an upstream position to a downstream position, each of the diverting devices having a respective on state and a respective off state and diverting optical energy from the first optical path to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, each diverting device transitioning from its off state to its on state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-on signal, and each diverting device transitioning from its on state to its off state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-off signal, the method comprising the step of scanning the display elements at least in part by:(a) asserting a turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices; (b) asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device; (c) asserting a turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned downstream from the first diverting device along the first optical path, such that the second diverting device begins transitioning from its off state to its on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, prior to the first diverting device reaching the off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device; and (d) asserting a turn-off signal for the second diverting device, such that the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting a turn-off signal for the second diverting device, after the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the second diverting device reaches the on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, after the first diverting device reaches its on state in response to the step of asserting a turn-on signal for the first diverting device.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the finite time in which the first diverting device transitions from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal is less than the finite time in which the second diverting device transitions from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal.
 16. The method of claim 15, comprising the step of asserting the turn-on signal to all of the diverting devices such that all of the diverting devices are in their on states before the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the diverting devices further include a third diverting device positioned downstream of the second diverting device, and wherein the step of scanning the display elements comprises the further step of asserting the turn-on signal for the third diverting device such that the third diverting device reaches its on state after the second diverting device reaches its on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device but before the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the second diverting device.
 18. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of repeating steps (a) through (d) for scanning the display elements repetitively.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein the first optical path is defined at least in part by an optical waveguide segment.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein the diverting devices comprise thermo-optic switches.
 21. A method according to claim 13, using a plurality of optical energy diverting devices arranged in an array, and a plurality of optical paths including the first optical path, each of the optical paths carrying optical energy from a respective upstream position to a respective downstream position, each diverting device being situated along one of the optical paths and having a respective on state and a respective off state, and diverting optical energy from the optical path along which it is situated to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, the step of scanning the display elements including the further steps of:(e) asserting a turn-on signal for a third one of the diverting devices along a second one of the optical paths; (f) asserting a turnoff signal for the third diverting device such that the third diverting device reaches its off state no earlier than the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device, but before the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting a turn-off signal for the second diverting device.
 22. The method of claim 13, wherein the turn-on signal for a given one of the diverting devices is carried on the same conductor as the turn-off signal for the given diverting device.
 23. A method for scanning a plurality of display elements arranged in an array on a display, by selectively diverting optical energy using a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed along a plurality of optical paths each oriented in a first dimension of the array, each of the optical paths carrying optical energy from a respective upstream position to a respective downstream position on the optical path, each of the diverting devices capable of diverting optical energy when in an on state to a respective one of the display elements, the method comprising, within a scan of the display elements along the respective optical paths, the steps of:(a) asserting a turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices on a first one of the optical paths; (b) asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path; (c) asserting a turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned on the first optical path upstream of the first diverting device on the first optical path, the second diverting device reaching an on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, prior to the first diverting device reaching an off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device; and (d) no earlier than the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path, but before the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the first optical path, asserting the turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices on a second one of the optical paths.
 24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the second optical path no earlier than the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path; and asserting the turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned upstream of the first diverting device on the second optical path, the second diverting device on the second optical path reaching an on state in response to the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the second optical path, prior to the first diverting device on the second optical path reaching an off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the second optical path.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the first diverting device on the second optical paths occurs at the same time as the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path,wherein the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the second optical path occurs at the same time as the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path; and wherein the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the second optical path occurs at the same time as the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the first optical path.
 26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:asserting a turn-on signal for a third one of the diverting devices positioned upstream of the second diverting device on the first optical path, after the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the first optical path; and asserting a turn-on signal for a third one of the diverting devices positioned upstream of the second diverting device on the second optical path, no earlier than the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the third diverting device on the first optical path, after the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the second optical path.
 27. The method of claim 23, comprising the step of repeating steps (a) through (d) for each of a plurality of scans of the display elements.
 28. The method of claim 24, wherein each of the diverting devices turns on in response to a respective turn-on control signal and reaching an on state at a finite time thereafter, and each of the diverting devices turns off in response to a respective turn-off signal and reaching an off state at a finite time thereafter;wherein the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the first optical path is performed before the first diverting device on the first optical path reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path; and wherein the step of asserting the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the second optical path is performed before the first diverting device on the second optical path reaches its off state in response to the step of asserting the turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the second optical path.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the finite time of the first diverting device on the first optical path transitioning from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal is greater than the finite time of the second diverting device on the first optical path transitioning from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal; andwherein the finite time of the first diverting device on the second optical path transitioning from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal is greater than the finite time of the second diverting device on the second optical path transitioning from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal.
 30. The method of claim 23, wherein the optical paths are defined at least in part by optical waveguide segments.
 31. The method of claim 23, wherein the diverting devices comprise thermo-optical switches.
 32. A method for scanning a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed on an optical path for selectively diverting optical energy from the optical path, the optical path capable of carrying optical energy from an upstream position to a downstream position, each of the diverting devices capable of turning on from an off state and reaching an on state at a finite turn-on time thereafter, and each of the diverting devices capable of turning off from an on state and reaching an off state at a finite turn-off time thereafter, the method comprising the step of:scanning the diverting devices in the upstream direction if the finite turn-off time of each of the diverting devices reaching the off state from the on state is greater than the finite turn-on time of each of the diverting devices reaching the on state from the off state, and in the downstream direction if the finite turn-off time of each of the diverting devices reaching the off state from the on state is less than the finite turn-on time of each of the diverting devices reaching the on state from the off state.
 33. Display apparatus comprising:a plurality of display elements; a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed along a first optical path to carry optical energy from a first upstream position to a first downstream position, each diverting device having a respective on state and a respective off state and diverting optical energy from the first optical path to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state; and a controller which scans the display elements by controlling the diverting devices along the first optical path such that the diverting devices reach their on states in upstream sequence.
 34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein each diverting device transitions from its off state to its on state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-on signal, and each diverting device transitions from its on state to its off state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-off signal, and wherein the controller:(a) asserts a turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices; (b) asserts a turn-off signal for the first diverting device; and (c) asserts a turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned upstream from the first diverting device along the first optical path, the second diverting device reaching the on state in response to the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, prior to the first diverting device reaching the off state in response to the turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device brings the second diverting device to its on state after the first diverting device reaches its on state in response to the assertion of the turn-on signal for the first diverting device.
 36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the diverting devices further include a third diverting device positioned upstream of the second diverting device, and wherein the controller during a scan further:asserts the turn-off signal for the second diverting device; and asserts the turn-on signal for the third diverting device such that the third diverting device reaches its on state after the second diverting device reaches its on state in response to the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device but before the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of the turn-off signal for the second diverting device.
 37. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the finite time in which the first diverting device transitions from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal is greater than the finite time in which the second diverting device transitions from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal.
 38. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising a conductor which carries both the turn-on signal and the turn-off signal to a given one of the diverting devices.
 39. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the first optical path is defined at least in part by an optical waveguide segment.
 40. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the diverting devices comprise thermo-optic switches.
 41. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said controller scans the display elements repetitively by controlling the diverting devices along the first optical path such that the diverting devices reach their on states in a repeated upstream sequence.
 42. The apparatus of claim 33, comprising:a plurality of optical energy diverting devices arranged in an array; a plurality of optical paths including the first optical path, each of the optical paths carrying optical energy from a respective upstream position to a respective downstream position, each diverting device being situated along one of the optical paths in the plurality of optical paths and having a respective on state and a respective off state, each diverting device diverting optical energy from the optical path along which it is situated to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, wherein the controller scans the display elements by scanning the diverting devices situated along all of the optical energy paths in the plurality of optical paths in parallel.
 43. Display apparatus comprising:a plurality of display elements; a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed along a first optical path carrying optical energy from an upstream position to a downstream position, each of the diverting devices having a respective on state and a respective off state and diverting optical energy from the first optical path to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, each diverting device transitioning from its off state to its on state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-on signal, and each diverting device transitioning from its on state to its off state in a respective finite time in response to assertion of a respective turn-off signal; and a controller which scans the display elements at least in part by(a) asserting a turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices; (b) asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device; (c) asserting a turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned downstream from the first diverting device along the first optical path, such that the second diverting device begins transitioning from its off state to its on state in response to the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, prior to the first diverting device reaching the off state in response to the assertion of the turn-off signal for the first diverting device; and (d) asserting a turn-off signal for the second diverting device, such that the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of a turn-off signal for the second diverting device, after the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of a turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the second diverting device reaches the on state in response to the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, after the first diverting device reaches its on state in response to the assertion of a turn-on signal for the first diverting device.
 45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the finite time in which the first diverting device transitions from its on state to its off state in response to the turn-off signal is less than the finite time in which the second diverting device transitions from its off state to its on state in response to the turn-on signal.
 46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the controller asserts the turn-on signal to all of the diverting devices such that a plurality of the diverting devices are in their on states before the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of the turn-off signal for the first diverting device.
 47. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the diverting devices further include a third diverting device positioned downstream of the second diverting device, and wherein the controller asserts the turn-on signal for the third diverting device such that the third diverting device reaches its on state after the second diverting device reaches its on state in response to the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device but before the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of the turn-off signal for the second diverting device.
 48. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the first optical path is defined at least in part by an optical waveguide segment.
 49. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the diverting devices comprise thermo-optic switches.
 50. The apparatus of claim 43, comprising:a plurality of optical energy diverting devices arranged in an array; a plurality of optical paths including the first optical path, each of the optical paths carrying optical energy from a respective upstream position to a respective downstream position, each diverting device being situated along one of the optical paths and having a respective on state and a respective off state, and diverting optical energy from the optical path along which it is situated to a respective display element when in the on state but not when in the off state, wherein the controller scans the display elements further by(e) asserting a turn-on signal for a third one of the diverting devices along a second one of the optical paths; (f) asserting a turn-off signal for the third diverting device such that the third diverting device reaches its off state no earlier than the first diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of a turn-off signal for the first diverting device, but before the second diverting device reaches its off state in response to the assertion of a turn-off signal for the second diverting device.
 51. The apparatus of claim 43, further comprising a conductor which carries both the turn-on signal and the turn-off signal to a given one of the diverting devices.
 52. Display apparatus comprising:a plurality of display elements arranged in an array; a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed along a plurality of optical paths each oriented in a first dimension of the array, each of the optical paths carrying optical energy from a respective upstream position to a respective downstream position on the optical path, each of the diverting devices capable of diverting optical energy when in an on state to a respective one of the display elements; and a controller which scans the display elements at least in part by(a) asserting a turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices on a first one of the optical paths; (b) asserting a turn-off signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path; (c) asserting a turn-on signal for a second one of the diverting devices positioned on the first optical path upstream of the first diverting device on the first optical path, the second diverting device reaching an on state in response to the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device, prior to the first diverting device reaching an off state in response to the assertion of the turn-off signal for the first diverting device; and (d) no earlier than the assertion of the turn-on signal for the first diverting device on the first optical path, but before the assertion of the turn-on signal for the second diverting device on the first optical path, asserting the turn-on signal for a first one of the diverting devices on a second one of the optical paths.
 53. Display apparatus comprising:an optical path capable of carrying optical energy from an upstream position to a downstream position; a plurality of optical energy diverting devices disposed on the optical path, each of the diverting devices capable of turning on from an off state and reaching an on state at a finite turn-on time thereafter, and each of the diverting devices capable of turning off from an on state and reaching an off state at a finite turn-off time thereafter; and a controller which scans the diverting devices selectably in the upstream direction or the downstream direction.
 54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the controller scans the diverting devices in the upstream direction if the finite turn-off time of each of the diverting devices reaching the off state from the on state is greater than the finite turn-on time of each of the diverting devices reaching the on state from the off state, and in the downstream direction if the finite turn-off time of each of the diverting devices reaching the off state from the on state is less than the finite turn-on time of each of the diverting devices reaching the on state from the off state. 